Little Witch Academia: Reverse!
by Blee Bleep
Summary: An alternate universe where everyone has swapped or is the opposite of themselves! But the catch: they're still the goddamn same. Indulge in a AU where Akko is a cranky nerd and Diana is a supreme mixture of honor student and dumbass, along with a fervent Lotte and mildly-enthused Sucy! (Rated T for some adult languages...)
1. Chapter 1

**A self indulgent collection of shots and snippets in the reverse AU.**

 **I got tired of drawing.**

* * *

Atsuko 'Akko' Kagari was not one who would get easily lost. She was a vigilant girl, if not a little peculiar about most details, but all in all, she knows where, when, and how she would get to her destination safely and efficiently.

The brunette checks her watch. 2 minutes until 11:00. The orientation doesn't start until 1:00 noon. Plenty of time to reach Luna Nova Academy. After all, she had deemed to be at least half an hour early before the ceremony starts and Atsuko would not fail herself to be any later than that.

The train screeches to a halt and the speakers' rings to life about arriving to Blytonbury. Atsuko immediately stood up and took her luggage beside her. The doors open and she steps out of the cart, covering herself with other people exiting the station. There were barely half a dozen of passengers, including herself but should she complain? It was a little different from the bullet train back in her city but the lesser the people, the better for Atsuko to arrive to the bus station with plenty of time to spare.

As the people around her dispersed, Atsuko wipes the bangs out of her face, wondering if she had just cut her fringes a little too long. But her question disappears as soon as she went out of the door and sunlight came to shine on her eyes and she looks up.

The small town near Luna Nova was dainty, small but homey, wide even, surrounded by green hills. She smelt the air. A small scent of fresh baked goods and coffee wafted into her nostrils and Atsuko has never felt so alien.

The smog she was so acquainted to back in Japan was nowhere, and people bustling around, full of work and seriousness, was now nonexistent. Being in foreign land was far more overwhelming than Atsuko had thought. She steeled herself. Not to worry. She'll adapt quickly. But right now she needs to… sit down for a bit.

She finds herself seated on a public bench, covering her mouth with her hand as she tries to nurse her nausea.

* * *

Atsuko looks over at the access map that came with the Luna Nova letter and tried to pinpoint where exactly the Leyline Terminal was. Her venture was fruitless, to say the least, and Atsuko had try to ask for directions but most of the townsmen had only answered her that there was no bus station within the area.

Of course, the stubborn girl that she was refused to believe in their advice and continued to walk across the town, a map and some pamphlets of Luna Nova and Baltonbury in her right hand and the left one clutching her luggage as she tries to navigate her way around the place.

After doing this for several minutes, she backs up to a bench at a park and heaved a sigh. Maybe they were right. There were really no bus stations around here. Then how, pray tell, will she get on Luna Nova now? Atsuko adjusts her blue scarf for a bit and glanced at her watch. Several minutes until it's a quarter before 12 and Atsuko had just wasted precious time to find a nonexistent bus station.

Scowling, Atsuko takes out her map again. "Either this map is imprecise or the folks aren't well-aware of their own town," she mutters and trailed her finger around the paper where broken lines were used to direct to the bus station. She stops the tree-like symbol where underneath it says 'Leyline Terminal'.

Gosh dang does she hates being lost. Squinting angrily at the spot she was trying to arrive at, she puts down her map beside her and placed her elbows to her knees, scowling at the grass, at the trimmed shrubs, at the hill with some kind of building that looked like a tree—

Wait. A building that looked like tree?

She stands and squints at the hill where a building that looked similar to the symbol on her map was perched, and, after some comparison, she realized that what she was looking for was exactly that. Excitement bubbled up in her chest and Atsuko let out a high-pitched squeal, skipping on her feet for a bit before she collected her luggage and began to walk in a jovial but measured pace.

After a few minutes, the hill became closer and bigger to Atsuko's peripheral and she smiled. As she reaches the river, she sees the old stone bridge built across it. She was halfway over it when all of the sudden, a sharp scream of anguish came from behind her.

Atsuko flinched at the sound and was about to look back before a girl that looked about her age, with blonde hair and glasses, ran at pace of a race car, cursing and yelling something in a language Atsuko doesn't know. She was carrying plenty of bags and Atsuko wondered how could someone manage to run with that much luggage before her thought was cut-off with a hasty, "EXCUSE ME!"

Bewildered and unprepared, Atsuko side-stepped, but even then, she was shoved. Add to the fact that the bridge's parapet was less than two feet tall, fate had no choice but to plunge her down the river.

A faint 'sorry!' was heard over the water in her ears. Atsuko sat up from the river in anger immediately, about to yell the blonde stranger in rapid shots in English before she had seen that the girl had disappeared. She spat out water from her mouth and scowled at nothing, one of her eyes covered by her damp bangs. If she sees that girl again, she ought to give her a piece of her mind.

Atsuko was about to stand up before a quiet, "Oh my god!" made her look up. A girl, yet again her age, showed up from the other end of the bridge, with puce hair that covered the other half of her face, and she went down to help the brunette up from the water.

"Are you okay?" the puce-haired girl asks as Atsuko was out of the river, soaked to her shoes.

Atsuko looked over herself and felt heavy with water. "Um, yeah. Nothing major. It's just that I'm drenched." She replied honestly and smiled at the girl. "Thank you for helping me."

She studied the girl. She was lanky and her skin was pale, almost gray, her posture slouching forward a bit. Her weird, puce hair reached below her shoulders, and she was clad in thin, green and white robes with a leather pouch beside her hip while she held a broom. Her only visible red eye widened and she looked away. "No problem…"

Atsuko climbed back up to the bridge to take back her luggage and found some of its contents seemed to have spilled out from her duffel bag, definitely from the collision between her and the blonde girl earlier. Still drenched, she frowned and began to collect her things, mostly books and, uh, her headphones and… oh, her little Alcor.

The puce-haired girl hadn't left her yet and instead, she helped her pick up her belongings. When all of her stuff, save for her Alcor which she cradled her arms, were back in their place, she smiled at the girl again. "Thank you again. What's your name, by the way?"

The girl hesitates before answering, "Su-Sucy Manbavaran."

Then Atsuko notices her teeth.

Fangs.

* * *

Atsuko didn't know about Leylines as portals before her ride in one. She also didn't know they hated salt. And Atsuko, by Jennifer, had never thought an envious character with an aggressive tongue could also be considered as salt as well, which is borderline offensive if you ask her.

Landing in a pile, she slowly sat up, her body aching. She whips around her around and looked for the other two girls that fell with her. Sucy, thank God, was standing up, a few meters away from her next to her broom, looking quite dizzy herself. And the other…

Atsuko squinted at the other girl who lied some meters away from her and then she immediately recognized the blonde hair. It was the girl from earlier. She ran up to the blonde and began to shake her awake and the blonde slowly came back to her senses. She was drooling.

"Ughh… where am I?" The blonde murmurs, touching her face and glasses and Atsuko helped her up to her feet.

Atsuko looks around. Deep, dark trees and shrubs everywhere, with different kinds of plants and a ribbon of fog snaked around their feet. An ominous aura surrounded them and, Good Jennifer, she hopes that what she was thinking wasn't actually the place they're in.

"No… no idea." She lies through her teeth and the blonde was finally up in her feet.

Sucy wobbles over them, looking pretty impassive about the fall but her slight limp said otherwise. "Uh, are you two okay?"

Atsuko nods. "Yes, we are. You?"

"Alright," she replied and her head whips around their surroundings. "But considering where we are… we won't be anytime soon."

Atsuko gulps and decides denying is no longer valid. "Arcturus Forest, right?"

The name seemed to be enough to send the blonde fully awake. She jumped away from Atsuko's grasp and grabbed her hair. "What!" she yelped. "Arcturus forest!? Are you kidding me!?" she suddenly takes the brunette by the shoulders. "Please tell me you're joking."

Atsuko takes the blonde's wrists and slowly unclamped them from her. "Calm down. And no, I am not kidding." She says evenly and the blonde slowly backs off.

The blonde placed her hands to her hips and huffs. "Great. I'm in a dangerous forest with a bunch of hobos _and_ I'm going to be late for the orientation. _Great_."

Atsuko scowled. "Excuse me but who are you calling 'hobos'?" she asked sharply.

The blonde returned the scowl, pushing back her glasses up to the bridge of her nose. "Who but the girls who knocked me off my broom." She snapped and went to pick up her broom that fell off not too far from them and picked up the remaining bags she had.

"It was an accident! We didn't know Leylines could react so aggressively to salt! We didn't even bring any!" Atsuko reasoned though half of it was a lie. She really hopes her umeboshi wasn't going to be warranted.

The blonde stared at her long and hard before she asked, "Are you that girl who got in Luna Nova by academic scholarship?"

The question caught the brunette off gaurd. Atsuko felt herself flush but said, "Yes."

The blonde rolled her eyes and sighed. "How could a scholar not know that Leylines hate salt?" she murmurs and Atsuko just had about enough of this blonde.

"Hey, I told you it was an accident!" she snapped.

Sucy walked away from the two girls who had already exploded into an argument, the brunette yelling quips at the blonde who was as quick to shoot back. She was worried. Any kind of monster could pop out from these woods if they were any louder and seeing their argument, any sort of monster could pop out from the bush near them. Sucy hopes that that monster wouldn't be… be… be…

"And another thing! We didn't expect you to be behind us at all! It was your fault for not even trying to dodge us and one of your stupid luggage got in the way, too!" Atsuko argued, gritting her teeth in frustration.

"How could my luggage be in fault!? Your toy in the other hand!" She takes Alcor and points at it with an accusing finger. "It hit me square in the face, you could at least pack your things properly! Why would a _teenager_ bring a _stuffed animal_ in Luna Nova, anyway?"

A noise died in Atsuko's throat before growling and swiping the doll away from the blonde. "How _dare_ you…!" A shadow looms over them. "Accuse…" her voice lowers. "Al…"

Atsuko dared to look up. The blonde did too.

A giant, gold eye stared at them directly, and they all stand frozen. Atsuko could only murmur the name of the monster before them. "Cockatrice…"

* * *

Diana was somehow earlier than necessary in Luna Nova's orientation ceremony. Usually, she would more or less procrastinate the assigned time before barging in when the event was beginning a few minutes before but today…

Hm. She could at least wait a few minutes in her dorm but since she wasn't assigned to wait in the Leyline station like Hannah and Barbara were, she had nothing to do but go straight to the indoor amphitheater of Luna Nova.

She readjusted her grip in her broom and waited for her teammates to burst through those doors. It was currently 12:35. It would be less than half an hour for the orientation would begin, and some teams have already seated themselves. She looks around and found Headmaster Holbrooke and Professor Croix speaking in the corner, beside the podium where the headmaster would deliver her speech and open the new school year of Luna Nova. Other professors are due to arrive.

Her eyes goes to the entrance and found the green team's leader Amanda O'Neill walking in, her other teammates gone as well. Other girls in the vicinity stared at her as she adjusts her witch hat and they heaved a sigh. The heiress smirks, musing at how others are so easily charmed by someone. Diana couldn't understand how anybody would go smitten just at the sight of somebody.

Diana tried to wave and signal to the redhead to sit on the spot lower of the blue team but she had gone unnoticed as Amanda decided to sit on the lower seats of the amphitheater's left, parallel to her.

Hm. Diana sighs again, wishing Hannah and Barbara to arrive now. Without anyone to talk to, it was kind of awkward for her to stand around, doing nothing. They eventually enter, a few minutes later. They came in chortling; well Hannah was but Barbara looked fuming, her auburn-haired friend sharing a few jokes with a girl with short, violet hair, Avery, before coming over to sit beside Diana.

"You two were gone long." Diana remarks.

"Yeah, well, some blonde girl had gone out of her way to say that Nightfall was horrible," Hannah says, giggling. Barbara scowled. "And then she and Barbara had an argument."

"Well, she was wrong! I mean, how some bullshit like Spell Cast could even compete with Nightfall!? And she even said Belle was a furry for going after Edward!"

"Language. But she technically is though," Hannah offered.

"Whatever!"

Diana grinned as Hannah tried to desist Barbara's rant and looked over at the students filling up the entirety of the amphitheater's seats. The student population became bigger over the past years, with over 200 teams of witches inside Luna Nova. But quantities never minded Diana. She'll be sure to shine the brightest here, just as her mom was.

And especially this time… Now that world-renowned Chariot Du Nord was officially a professor in the academy. She'd _kill_ to be her favorite student.

But as Diana looked around for any red hair and cape, no signs of the famous performer-become-teacher were in the vicinity. Huh. She had a glimpse of her the few days before and was sure Professor Chariot was in Luna Nova. Where she could be, Diana had no guesses. But Diana kept searching for her in the growing crowd anyway.

"Hey, Dia," Barbara's voice was the one who snapped her back. "You know about the scholarship thing for non-witches, right?"

Diana had heard it from Professor Lukic once, where any girl, even those who are absolutely magic-less, could enter Luna Nova Academy, as long as they can pass their written exam. You need either a 98 or above to enter and so far in history, about less than thirty students have only made it through with absolutely no magical-abilities. Half flunked out in the middle of their term for lacking magical assets and the others, well…

Headmaster Miranda Holbrooke got through it, though only half, and even then, she still had some magical blood in her. And, oh yeah, she was the one who made the test worldwide last summer. Guess having both brains and talent can earn you the highest of incentives.

Diana turns to her, raising both of her brows. "You mean that academic thing? What about it?"

"I heard somebody got a hundred-percent."

Diana's eyes became saucers. "No way."

"Well, maybe," Hannah said, creasing the spot between her brows a bit. "Avery heard from the faeries that they heard the staff had accepted a student who made it to a perfect but we're not exactly sure. Maybe it's just a false rumor, who knows."

"Oh, okay," Diana breathed. A one hundred percent on a Luna Nova written exam? Look, perfect scholarships aren't something that could easily be acquired in this academy but it wasn't unusual either. Diana had a perfect scholarship herself in the traditional exam, as expected coming from a family of witches but the academic scholarship was another thing altogether.

While Luna Nova may base strictly on your magical prowess only, they were also keen on your academic abilities, and even if Diana never took it herself, she was told that it was a very difficult and exhausting exam. 200 questions. Two long essays. And one accurately drawn graph of a magical symbol of a very, very hard spell.

So acing the exam? Forget it.

"Who do you think it was, though? If it was true?" Diana pressed on.

Barbara shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know but I heard it was a Japanese girl."

Diana wasn't racist, really, but she couldn't help herself. "Pff," she murmured, "That would explain things." Her teammates stared. "You know, she's… Asian. Most Asians these days are better than the lot of us." Diana elaborated.

Hannah and Barbara reluctantly agreed and it was then the orientation started, when the Headmaster had climbed up the podium and began to deliver her speech, asking all of the students to quiet down. Diana looked around the line of teachers behind her and found no redhead of a performer standing.

The heiress felt disappointed, not being able to see her idol in the opening day of her first year. _Give the benefit of a doubt,_ Diana told herself. Maybe Chariot had something to do first before this, something more important than some lame orientation that most don't need in the first place?

Suddenly, amidst of her thoughts, the school symbol engraved on the floor in front of the stage began to glow. Headmaster Holbrooke stopped talking as all eyes went to the center. On reflex, Diana placed her hand on her wand as the glow became a tall collumn of light. The professors stood in front of the stage before a powerful light shot out from the floor, accompanied by a cloud of white smoke and the students shrieked.

Three seconds of being blinded by the smoke, a smart professor had used a spell to disperse the fog and there, on the center of the floor were a pile of three girls. Diana gaped. Had they just… appeared out of that light? No, that wasn't just some random light, that was a Leyline path. But summoning it, in the middle of an indoor amphitheater? Diana squints suspisciously at the three.

The one on the top of the pile was a brunette wearing an orange coat and blue shorts, weilding a gold staff. Next was a blonde, glassed girl wearing the outdoor Luna Nova uniform that looked knocked-out, a bird on top of her head. The last one was a pale girl with puce hair holding a giant feather who looked like she had a mean haircut. Like, her bangs looked like it was slashed by some kind of sharp object.

The brunette, whose back was turned to Diana, sat up and then whipped her head around the amphitheater. She looked like she was of Asian-descent, and her eyes were wide with terror and then realization and then... joy? And suddenly, a wide smile broke up in her face as she stood upright and Diana made out the color of her eyes, even from a distance away.

They were red, de-saturated red, but they still shone bright in the light of the amphitheater. And her smile, the way the edge of her lips reached both cheeks, flashing white teeth accompanied by a red streak crossing her face, made Diana paralyzed.

"Heh," the brunette broke the silence that reigned over them, and she slapped both of her hands over her mouth but it was too late. She was already in a fit of giggles before bursting out laughing and _good Jennifer_ , Diana had never seen a cuter girl.

The other two girls were finally sitting up but the giggling girl's knees gave out and she was sitting on the floor again. In one swift motion, however, her arms snatched the two girls' necks in a tight embrace and they flinched a bit, obviously still aching from their fall.

The room was filled with the brunette's uncontrolled laughing, as if she was finally safe and completely relieved from something, hysteria and terror flashing in her eyes all at the same time. Diana would've thought of her as crazy hadn't she been so smitte- whoa, w-wait, what?

Diana looked away quickly, covering her gaping mouth before Barbara and Hannah could see her expression, not noticing the flash of red appearing behind the crowd of teachers on stage.

If she looks at the brunette any further, she'll suddenly understand how someone could be so smitten at the sight of some stranger that came out of light, laughing a sort of laughter that makes Diana want to listen to it again.

* * *

 **FUCK THIS IS SO CHEESY**

 **BTW, you guys can submit whatever ideas you guys got in this AU in my Tumblr inbox. My url is the same name as here. I'll try my best to do them.**

 **Update will depend on the mood.**

 **Edit: Made a few adjustments, and filled up some space I didn't realize that was missing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 1/Episode 2**

 **This one was a tad long. Had to cut it in two.**

* * *

Atsuko Kagari.

That's her name.

Diana had learned it before second period, when she hastily ran into the classroom carrying her astronomy books and almost tripping on the doorstep. "Hey, looks like we're in the same class as Kagari," Barbara whispered to her the moment she sat down between her and Hannah.

"Kaga-what?"

"Kagari," Hannah points to the spot a few seats under and there Diana sees the girl from orientation day, the one who went hysterical, sitting up rigidly with a quill and paper in front of her, the other two girls she popped out from the portal beside her, her straight, brown hair cascading down her shoulders like a chocolate waterfall. "You know, the one from—why are you gaping like a fish?"

Diana didn't realize her mouth was open before she snapped out of her funk. She quickly placed her books beside her and asked, "No… No reason. Kaga— _Kagari_. Is that her name?"

Hannah quirked her brow at Diana before simply nodding. "Yeah, Atsuko Kagari. Turns out she's the one who got a hundred percent in the entrance exams." She explained, putting her chin on her palm.

Diana almost let her mouth drop again but she steeled her jaw and continued to look at the brunette whose back was turned to her. "Atsuko, huh…"

Barbara nudged her a bit. "Don't use her first name in front of her though. I heard Japanese people don't really use their first names on their first meetings." She grins but Diana doesn't think she's kidding. She returns it with a wink, anyway.

Two minutes later, Professor Chariot Du Nord enters the class and Diana almost, _almost_ forgot about the Kagari girl.

Even without the costume on, even if she wore the plainest of uniforms, even if she had the most boring of entrances, Professor Chariot had easily taken the room's attention. Her red hair flowed behind her, her witch hat tilted back, her face striking, with sharp eyes and a smile that branded her as 'radical'. All conversations stopped as the redheaded professor said, "Good morning class!" and went up to the table and placed her files down.

Diana felt giddy on her spot. The young heiress had never seen her idol up close like this until a few weeks ago, when she left the Cavendish estate a little earlier than she was supposed to, and saw her standing in the entrance to Luna Nova, with a kickass cape flowing in the wind like a majesty upon the castle. Her giddiness began to kick as the redheaded professor introduced herself.

"All of you might have already known me as Shiny Chariot," she said with a shy smile. "You may have known me from TV shows, movies, and, yes, my personal performances I do live all over the world. At least one of you has already seen one of those, correct?"

Diana nodded and grinned. Three or four times, the first time in Japan, the next in Italy, another in Scotland and the best show yet, the one when Shiny Chariot did a homecoming in France, when she made an extravagant performance over the Eifel Tower, and when Diana had left the manor without telling anyone in order to see it. It cost Diana being stripped of her broom for the next few months, of course, but it was still worth it. Daryll could go ahead and build a guillotine for her lettuce head.

Diana didn't exactly collect stuff like other fans but she was loyal and knowledgeable about Shiny Chariot, which she is very proud about (though that was probably because she can't stand any member of her family to catch her stash).

As Professor Chariot continued to introduce her subject and made attendance, Diana's eyes glanced below over to the brunette and her attention snapped from the redhead to her.

Atsuko was leaning forward on her seat, gazing at Chariot. She wasn't gaping or grinning or something stupid like that but she was gazing intensely at their teacher, another red streak across her face, like Professor Chariot was the most interesting thing in the room, which she was, to be honest.

Diana notices how Atsuko's hand was already clutching her quill, as if she was trying not to write down every word Professor Chariot lisped. The way her legs rubbed against each other, like she was trying hard not to stand up. Then the heiress thought, ' _That's it'_. She wasn't holding the quill for no reason. She was literally trying to stand up and not greet Shiny Chariot with a handshake, her fingers twitching and rubbing the feather with fervor. Diana knows how it felt like.

The girl to Atsuko's left, the one with puce hair, whispered something to her and the brunette flinched in her seat before shaking her head and whispered something back. The blonde to her left looked like she was chuckling and came up to whisper something at Atsuko too. Soon, she blushed and began to whisper back and her blonde friend snickered.

It was three minutes before the class ended when Diana realized she had stared at the completely wrong person the whole period.

* * *

Diana, turned out, shared a lot of classes with the red team (she learned their colors after seeing a flash of a red sash on them). Especially the brunette, who was in at least six of her subjects so Diana really had a lot of chances to talk or even speak a _word_ to her. But now it was the third day and Diana did nothing but wonder about the brunette the whole time.

They didn't have _actual_ magic classes until Friday, so Diana didn't see what exactly she could do with a wand. Atsuko had nothing to show, except that she was really smart, so smart that when their first period ended today, Barbara whispered something to her that Atsuko was beginning to get annoying.

 _Well, yeah_ , was what Diana wanted to say but there was something really cool about Atsuko and the way she answers. Sure, she was impatient and always shoots her hand up whenever a question was thrown by the teachers, even the most rhetorical ones, but she was always right.

What did Professor Croix told her again… Yeah, that's right she was always 'precise'.

So instead of agreeing, Diana just answered with something like, "Nah, I just don't think you like the way she talks," and that left Barbara looking like she'd just been shot by her Murowa spell.

Now cue lunchtime and the heiress was leaning over the wooden rails of the mess hall's upper floor, a mindless spoon from her cup of pudding stuck between her lips, with Barbara and Hannah arguing behind her again on whether or not did the blue dye Professor Badcock used was better than her green hair the week prior to the new semester. The red team was eating on a table on the left corner of the mess hall, looking quite normal and quiet, a stark comparison to the other witches who were making fun of their teammates in a jovial stride, with food nearly toppling over their lunch trays but somehow still keeping them balanced.

Diana thought about the hundred percent of Atsuko's grade in the entrance exams. Not that Diana wanted proof, her presence in class was already enough for her, but she just wanted to confirm it personally from the brunette herself. She also would like to ask if… she was really the one who summoned the Leyline portal in the orientation.

Summoning a Leyline portal was a hard spell to conjure but it was possible. Diana summoned it plenty of times before, in the Cavendish ballroom, in her bedroom, and sometimes outside Luna Nova if she felt lazy to go to the terminal (and if she had enough magic in her wand/had a philosopher's stone in the vicinity).

But in the middle of the orientation room? From who knows where? That was bold, even for Diana. Was Atsuko some kind of powerful witch then? Her grades definitely bought her for it and if Diana could, she wanted to see her magic personally. Anybody who could produce a Leyline portal like that deserves to be recognized.

So, after tasting that her spoon was beginning to get dull in her mouth, she discards it in a trash bin and begins her way down to the stairs, her trusty teammates in tow, still in an argument, now about how if Barbara's ponytail makes her look nerdier than usual. As they reached down the stairs, a few teams greeted her on the way, specifically the ones who were in close connections with Hannah and Barbara, like the burgundy team, purple team, yellow team… basically those who had a long magical family tree.

Her eyes were dead set on the brunette and as she was five, six meters away from their table, but as she did one more step to make it four, Diana thought this was going to be silly. Like, she had tons of friends, too many to count even, so why should she introduce herself to another one if she had a hundred others to talk to? But then again, associating herself with the smartest witch in the batch is always a great way to start a school year. Especially if it was a cute Japanes—

She stopped herself. ' _Whoa there, Diana,_ ' She thought. ' _Don't pull out your gay now_.'

Three meters.

The pale girl who had a messed up haircut noticed her first.

Two meters.

Witches behind her start whispering double-speed.

One meter.

That's the distance Diana gives herself between her and the brunette, who helped herself to some fries. She hadn't notice her yet but her teammates definitely did.

Diana gets a deep breath before saying, "So you must be Atsuko Kagari." That got the girl's attention fast. She whipped her head to her and Diana smiled.

Atsuko didn't return it however, and instead, gave an uncertain look. "Err, yes?"

Diana's smile grew bigger. "Well, pleased to meet you! My name is Diana Cavendish but you can call me 'Diana'!"

Great, so far, so good.

Atsuko relaxes her shoulders a bit but her expression didn't drop. "… Pleased to meet you, too."

Diana took one step forward and she studied her face. It looked like baby fat was still on her cheeks, so she didn't look more than fifteen. "Well, Han and Barb were right, you really are Japanese," she said. "So you're the girl who made a perfect on Luna Nova's written entrance exam."

Atsuko merely shrugged. "Yes. What's it to you?"

Diana grinned and held out her hand. "Nothing really. Just wanted to personally welcome you to Luna Nova! Let's make this a good year, eh, Atsuko?"

There. She dared to say her first name. In front of her face. Without knowing each other first.

The brunette stared at open palm and it immediately went sweaty. Was… Was this introduction a bit too much? It's only been two seconds but she still hadn't shaken her hand yet. Shit, shit, shit, she knew it was a wrong move to use her first name so casually, shit, shit, shit. Oh, dear, this was going to get aw—Oh.

She, uh, she took it.

Atsuko firmly grasped her hand and shook it up then down. "Alright, _Diana_." She replied and their eyes locked.

Diana felt her heartbeat quicken but that was probably just the sugar. Definitely not those ruby eyes that looked like she was about to give a quiz about Britain's history to her. Definitely NOT. Why would her heart skip a beat about that anyway? She never liked quizzes! Especially not history! She's whack at it! But… if it was this girl who was giving it, maybe… she can reconsider—

Wait. That's so _soft_.

Before Diana could have more useless thoughts, her hands suddenly felt the pillow-like texture it held. She looked at her and Atsuko's intertwined hands. _Wow, her hand is soft…_

The heiress marveled about the way the brunette's palm was placed against hers, but before she could continue, from a distance away, somebody made a shushing sound and Diana flinched. She immediately retracted her hand and hid it behind her back. She hoped that that handshake didn't last for too long…

Wait. _Nobody has spoken a word_.

Diana's eyes darted around the cafeteria. Witches in and out of her batch stared, as if they were expecting them to do a back-flip with a dolphin, eyes of a dozen teams burning holes into their uniforms. She turned back to the brunette again and blue eyes clashed with red.

' _Don't panic_ ,' she told herself as two more seconds of awkwardness passed. Atsuko merely stared, and though she held a more composed expression than her, Diana could see it through her eyes, she wanted to run away. ' _Ohhhh, shit, I'm gonna panic_.' Diana almost decided on bailing this show before her proper etiquette reflexes shouted a millisecond earlier.

She twisted her heel, bore a bright smile and said, "Well, I'll see you next time on the next period! Which is…" she tapped her chin. "Uhh… Right! Numerology," she began to walk away from the red team's table, doing—wait, finger guns? "You're in my class, right? Definitely!" Atsuko blinked at her. "I… I mean, I saw you in that class yesterday, so… You know what, never mind, see you there!"

Diana ended it with a smaller smile than she thought. She began to tread away from the table and once they were out of the cafeteria, a dozen meters away from the nearest witch, Hannah hit her straight with the, "Dia, what on earth was _that_?"

"Yeah, like," Barbara snickered. "That wasn't the usual smooth-sailing Diana from five minutes ago!"

Diana stopped dead in her tracks, faced her teammates and threw her hands up in the air. "I don't know! She looked so passive that I was worried if I stop talking it would become awkward!"

"It was already awkward the moment you talked to her,"

"Well, it became even more awkward then! I just wanted to make, like, some kind of connection, you know. I-I just didn't think she would… like, be so quiet. I was pretty sure she was talkative back in Magitronics class…"

The moment those words were spitted out of Diana's mouth, before the heiress could realize what she just said, Hannah and Barbara's eyes narrowed like a sniper's sight to his victim. "Wait," Hannah breathed. "Could it be… You like Atsu-!"

Diana quickly pushed the two into the nearest door of a room she doesn't know, clamping both of their mouths with her hands and when they were finally behind the door, the heiress immediately slammed it shut, quietly but firmly, whisking out her wand to bolt it lock with magic.

She faced her teammates. "No."

* * *

"—But I think you should keep it, Miss Kagari," Professor Chariot quickly said.

Atsuko looked like she was about to faint, another red streak coming on her face. "What—But—But Professor Chariot, this Shiny Rod is yours—" The brunette tried to force the golden staff into the professor's hands but Chariot quickly pushed it back to her.

"No, Miss Kagari, I assure you, my _own_ Shiny Rod is back at my office. You shall keep that for yourself." She said evenly and Atsuko stared at her before shifting her gaze down to the staff.

Diana stared at the staff, too. A meter in length, with a gold ornament on top and crystals engraved in a certain pattern. It looked exactly like the Shiny Rod Chariot used in her shows. And mind you, Diana had one herself before one of her cousins 'accidently' broke it, the damn cabbage heads, and had a thought that the thing Atsuko held was just a replica, exactly like hers.

Maybe it was. But why would she give it to Professor Chariot? The one who had the original very safely kept?

"But Professor…" Atsuko looked like she had more to say but Professor Chariot waved her off.

"Now enough, Miss Kagari, you're supposed to be in the cafeteria for lunch now. Have you eaten yet?" When the brunette shook her head, Diana thought Professor's shoulders slumped a little more than it should have. "Go on, I wouldn't want you to keep your teammates waiting. Keep that Shiny Rod close to you, alright?"

And that was it.

Atsuko gave an uncertain look before bowing her head slightly downwards. "Alright. Thank you for your time, Professor." She twisted her heel and stalked off to the cafeteria, the Shiny Rod hanging on her left hand.

That's when Professor Chariot saw her. As her red hair flowed over her shoulder when she turned, her fiery eyes had caught Diana peering over the nearest wall where she'd been waiting and eavesdropping. Diana thought of bailing. ' _Shit—'_

"Oh, Miss Cavendish, what are you doing there?"

Diana almost jumped out of her skin. She quickly hopped out of the wall and faced her professor. "Pro—Professor Chariot! Hi! I was, uh, just passing to get to the cafeteria—"

"Oh, then I wouldn't keep you waiting," Chariot threw her left thumb to the direction where Atsuko had left. "Go on now, I'm sure Miss Parker and Miss England are waiting for your arrival."

"Yeah—yeah, I should. They're probably arguing about something again." Diana nodded and began to trot towards the end of the hallway, hoping to catch up to the brunette, not noticing that she had found the girl far more interesting than her idol. Which was beyond weird since she wasn't interested in Atsuko at all! Only the Shiny Rod, yeah, only the Shiny Rod.

When the redhead was out of sight, Diana broke into a sprint. Finally, after passing two hallways and crossing three paths, she sees Atsuko's—wait, no, the _red team's_ back. She stopped her tracks and hid herself back into the hallway. Since most of the people were now in the mess hall, she could hear their voices echo in the corridor.

"Do you think she believes me? I mean, this Shiny Rod really did do magic," Atsuko said as she leaned against a marble column, disappointment obvious in her tone. "Back at Arcturus Forest."

Diana widened her eyes. _Arcturus Forest?_ _The_ Arcturus Forest? Are they mad or what!?

"You could have brought us. We both could've been act as witnesses," Sucy Manbavaran chirped in, a lanky, pale girl who Diana thought of creepy first because of her red, sunken eyes, before proving she was actually docile as ivy on a wall.

"Nah, I don't think witnesses could've proved anything," said Lotte Yansson, a blonde, mousy girl who, at first, seemed fragile as china but when she and Barbara met again in White Magic class, they were immediately met with a Fin who had a tongue of an Australian. "I mean, there are millions of Shiny Rods for sale out there and maybe she thinks that this is just a prank, Akko."

 _Akko_? Who the hell was _Akko_?

"Yes, but there's no denying that _this_ Shiny Rod," Atsuko motioned the gold staff to their faces. "is legit. How else did it do to summon that Leyline portal?"

Diana's eyes felt like they were bulging out of their sockets as they burned into the Shiny Rod. That thing? Legit? That's sounds too farfetched and Diana has seen a lot of farfetched things in her life. However…

Atsuko sighed and straightened her back. "Oh, whatever. I'm going back to the dorm to deposit this,"

Lotte stepped forward. "Ah, I'll do it then. I was planning to go back to our dorm, anyway."

"What are you going to do there?" Sucy asked.

"Just taking out a new book my Mom got for me before I came here."

Atsuko looked surprised. "You're still not finished with those? How many gifts did they send you?"

"About a couple dozen but I'm sure I could dispose of them easily." Lotte took the Shiny Rod and began to walk towards the left end of the hallway. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Alright, we'll meet you in the cafeteria." Atsuko said and the two went to the other end of the hallway to the mess hall.

Diana ran out of her spot to retrieve her wand from her dorm.

* * *

Disappointed.

Utterly disappointed, was what Akko felt at the moment.

When she had encountered Shin—Professor Chariot, her first thought of her initial reaction would be either joy or a little bit of, how do you say this… anything positve, she guess.

What Akko hadn't anticipated was the way it seemed like the professor looked shock when she had brought the Shiny Rod to her. She certainly didn't expect the way her shoulders squared, her face sunken of blood, hands clinging dearly to her books, eyes fidgeting back and forth from the windows to the wand she yielded.

And especially, she hadn't expected Shiny Chariot to reject the Shiny Rod and ordered her to _keep_ it.

What was she going to do with such an item!? While she might have brought up the thought that Professor already had one of her own Shiny Rod, she always shrugged it off and decided that coming clean and giving it back to her personally would be the best sort of action she could do! But she hadn't thought of keeping the thing! Why, that would be nonsense, _her_ , carrying such a valuable wand, when in fact its original keeper is just a building away!

But here she was, with a legit wand (though she is still debating on its authenticity) sitting in her room while the idol of her dreams is currently somewhere off in the castle while eating a plate of fish and chips along with her teammates.

"You're pulling that thinking face again," Sucy told her.

"What?" Atsuko muttered.

"You always knit your brows whenever you're bothered by something," Lotte points at her face as she lowers her _Summoning Faeries Grade: 9_ book down. "Still bummed about that Shiny Rod thing?"

The thought of keeping a better straight face disappeared just as quick as it had appeared and Akko nodded. "Yes, I am. I just can't stand to believe that the Shiny Rod we're carrying isn't the real deal. You guys did see it function, did you not?"

"Oh, we were there alright," Lotte grinned and began to do an archer position. "You were all like 'SHIINYYY ARRRCC'!"

Sucy snickered but Akko hardly believed the humor Lotte was displaying. "I wasn't _that_ flashy."

"Maybe not, but you were _totally_ into it," Lotte retorted. "Like, you—"

"Excuse me!"

The red team froze and they looked to their right. Standing there, slightly disheveled, as if she had just ran half a mile, was Diana Cavendish, her blue watery eyes large and she held a look that would indicate ecstasy. And to top it off, that look was directed at Akko, which frightened her somewhat.

Witches glanced but it seemed that lunch was far more interesting than some erratic Cavendish at the moment. She breathed and said, "Good afternoon, Atsuko!"

Akko dismissed showing any signs of being awkward of someone using her name like that. _This is Britain_ , she reminded herself. _It's proper etiquette to use somebody's first name and besides, Lotte and Sucy are already calling you by your nickname so what's the point?_ So, as a girl who knows not answering back would be especially rude, she said, "Good afternoon, D-Diana," _Dammit, Atsuko._ "Is there anything we can help you with?"

It seemed that was the exact question Diana had hoped for. Her face beamed a bright smile and she took out a wand. An _actual_ wand. "Well, actually, yes," She whirled it and a random chair skidded across the room and propped itself behind Diana, which she sat upon while eagerly leaning into their table. "There is something you guys can help me with. Well, not help, maybe _satisfy_ , if that makes sense."

Akko resisted the urge to drop her jaw at the display of magic. It was raw, with no whispering of spells nor any finesse; just a simple whirl like that and a chair suddenly came clopping to them at horse's pace. And Diana, _Diana_ wasn't even bothered by it at all! It's like she did it as simple as _breathing_. Akko glanced at the other witches and definitely, some of them were staring now.

Clearing her throat a bit, she said in a calm voice, "What would that be?"

The gleam in Diana's eyes grew bigger and she said, "The Shiny Rod."

 _What_?

"What?" Sucy widened her eyes.

"What?" Lotte looked unimpressed.

"What?" Akko was flabbergasted.

Diana nodded and then took out a piece of paper. "Meet me at the plaza. This afternoon. Bring the Shiny Rod, alright?" With each word, Diana's voice became happier as she pressed the folded parchment into her palm. " _Please_." She held her hand and Akko could feel herself becoming uncomfortable from the bright, pearly grin of Diana Cavendish.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 _ **What I promised myself**_ **: The next chapter should be done by four days I have nothing to do and I have a lot of inspiration and surely would update fast**

 _ **What happened**_ **: *takes several weeks***

 **im so sorry everyone**


	3. Chapter 3

_**PRONOUN. HELL.**_

* * *

Akko stared at the piece of paper Diana had handed to her not an hour ago.

 _Plaza courtyard, in front of the statue, 1PM, Pls bring the Shiny Rod_

It was all that was written on the pathetic parchment but within those words, Akko felt… threatened, somewhat? And then, as if to relieve her from her reverie, Lotte leaned on her right shoulder like a heavy bag being slammed onto her and looked over the paper she held.

Akko glared at her. Lotte just grinned and chuckled, "Well, well, well, look who got the famous Diana Cavendish's attention. _Again_." The way she said the last word was all too annoying.

Akko shrugged the blonde off her shoulder and placed the paper back into her pocket. "Oh, please Lotte. She only approached me twice, that doesn't _mean_ anything."

"It does, however," Wait, Sucy!? "Diana Cavendish just doesn't come to someone all of the sudden like that, Akko. You must've gotten her attention some way or another." Sucy grinned slightly, showing a bit of her fangs.

Akko studied her mushroom friend and saw a genuine twinkle of delight in her normally unsure and dead expression. After a moment, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever you two. Also, stop saying her full name. You sound as though she's sort of a celebrity or whatnot."

When Akko had first seen the blonde with green streaks, it was before the second period of the first day began. Diana entered with two girls, one with a ponytail, one with auburn hair, and then ran off again. Apparently she had forgotten something. Akko didn't pay any mind to her at first as her first goal was to ace astronomy class.

Which didn't happen.

What _happened_ was Professor Chariot completely ignored her raising hand as she chose to nab, yes, _Diana Cavendish_. And what was her first answer?

Akko replayed the memory.

" _What?" Diana looked off and was staring into their direction before she snapped and stood up._

A 'what'! A ' _what'_! Will you believe that? A simple 'what'! To _Shiny Chariot_! Hadn't Akko had such patience, she would've strangled the girl. However, she did answer Professor's question, but in comparison to Diana's shrewd reply and in her own answer, pardon the narcissism, Akko would've preferred her own.

It was then Akko acknowledged the blonde's presence. And to the next class after that, History of Magic, Akko was ignored yet again and the professor nabbed a few other students, _including_ Diana. In fact, if her count was right, Diana was asked to answer a question three times!

Somehow, somewhat, most of the teachers only chose Akko to answer a question once, and for the rest of the whole period, they seemed to ignore her. Except for Professor Croix, but it was already clear who aced her class. Constanze, was it? She didn't catch her name but she hopes she could befriend the girl.

Anyway, once Akko was out of her steaming head, she just ignored the blonde with watery blue eyes and did her best on her own, which is slim to fruitless because most of the teachers looked like they were quite bored with her already.

However, yesterday came and Diana _actually_ approached her. But then disappeared from Akko's peripheral for the rest of the afternoon. She was back this morning but didn't do anything. Akko thought of doing the same until she approached her again this lunch.

And thus the paper in her hand.

Akko was suddenly aware of the silence covering the red team and she looked up to see Lotte and Sucy's astonished faces.

"What?" Akko asked and looked back the corridor to see if they were seeing anything. Nothing but a few witches passing by and some faeries cleaning. She looked back at them. "Is something wrong?"

"You don't know Diana Cavendish?" Sucy asked, her brow raised so high it passed her bangs, a souvenir from the Cockatrice and their adventure in Arcturus Forest.

Akko , unfortunately, had no clue on why her tone was rather upset. "Well, yes, she's our classmate. The one with the strange—"

Lotte cut her off, shaking her head. "No, no, no, not like that! You never heard of her background?" When Akko shook her head, Lotte said, "She's a descendant of the Nine Witches! Her bloodline is literally connected to magic. In fact, I think her ancestor is Beatrix."

Annnnd her lunch suddenly felt heavy in her stomach.

Akko's eyes went large. "You're kidding."

"Not! You didn't hear?"

"No!" argued Akko. "As in, _Beatrix the Affectionate_? As in 'one of the founders of Luna Nova' Beatrix?"

Lotte shrugged. "One and only."

Akko doesn't believe it. She doesn't _want_ to believe it. That girl? A descendant of the Nine Witches? The same girl who almost tripped on the doorstep of second period of the first day!? As Akko begins to list off whatever facts that made Diana impossible to be fit of a descendant of the Nine, she suddenly remembers the way she had effortlessly casted a spell on that chair this lunch, the way she had controlled something with fervor but acted as though it was the same as pulling a chair out of a table and sitting on it.

That thought wasn't the only thing that came to Akko's mind; her being in favor among the teachers despite her clumsiness. The way she had correctly pronounced all of the spells when she was chose to recite some of them in class. Her closeness with the other teams. All that weird mane of hair that Akko thought of as a wig before.

The Nine Witches had been the ones who discovered and created this school, about centuries ago, and it was only right for a descendant of theirs to enter here. When the word 'bloodlines' popped in the front of Akko's mind, things made sense.

The Cavendishes probably had the deepest connection in this academy.

The thoughts of considering Diana as inferior earlier immediately disappeared and replacing it was a myriad of guilt, shock, and, Akko couldn't believe it either but the hole in her stomach did so, _fear_.

Akko probably showed in her face shock because Sucy nudged her and offered a comforting smile. "Hey, she's not so bad though," she said. "Despite her lineage, she's kind of naïve, too. Look at the paper she gave you, do you think there's something out of this other than a friendly chat?"

Akko looked at those red eyes and found no hidden emotions other than conceivable delight. Reflecting on her words, Akko took out the folded parchment. She read it once then another time and her heart relented.

Ye…Yes, she was right. Now that Sucy mentioned it, there was really no hint on why this thing exuded malice. Perhaps… Perhaps Akko was just too deep into stress she started to assume things. Oh, this is embarrassing. Suspecting without any proper judgment! She should have known better.

Akko smiled a little, and, as to absolve for her ridiculous thoughts about Diana earlier, she decides to swallow the little tidbit of the Cavendish being of a descendant of a powerful witch and said, "I… suppose you're right, Sucy. What _could_ bring harm out of this?"

What could've begotten a friendly atmosphere after that, Lotte, the troublesome girl, decided to say, "Well yeah, okay, maybe there's no hidden agenda behind this but how did she know about the Shiny Rod?"

Akko glared at her. "Did you flaunt it when you were on your way to the dorm?"

"As if!" scoffed Lotte. "If I did, I'd probably done it by referencing you."

"Why not reference Professor Chariot?" Sucy asked.

"With her standing across the corridor? I would've risked being shot by an arrow."

Akko glared at her further. "Professor Chariot is not the type to hurt the students, Lotte."

Lotte grinned mischievously. "You're covering for her but not yourself?"

Akko wanted to slap herself and then Lotte. She stomped her foot. "That's not the point! The point is why and how Diana knows about the Shiny Rod!" she asked sharply, her eyes shifting from Lotte and Sucy.

They shrugged. "Who knows," Sucy said. "Maybe she recognized it from Orientation day? I mean, you _were_ holding it."

"You were presenting it like a bouquet of flowers," Lotte chortled and Akko felt herself flush.

Sucy, thank God, pointed up a finger. "But there is another theory onto how," she added. "Maybe Diana found you carrying it on the way to Professor? It's likely that she may have crossed you two. She wasn't there in the cafeteria before us and she does have a thing for walking around the school."

Suddenly, Lotte's eyes lit up behind her glasses and Akko did _not_ want to hear any more from her. She held up her hand and said, "No, it shouldn't matter now. The Shiny Rod wasn't even a secret in the first place so it's not our problem if whether or not do people know of its appearance here."

The blonde pouted, rolled her eyes and took a softer line of approach instead of bickering. "Alright, no one should care. But what if people judge you and go 'hey, you stole that from Professor Chariot'!" Lotte tried to mimic a higher pitch in her voice, maybe mimicking Barbara Parker, one of Diana's teammates, but she immediately cringed and cleared her throat.

Akko shrugged and returned the paper back into her pocket. "Then I'll try to have Professor Chariot clear it up for them. If they don't believe our reason, then they'll surely believe Professor's."

"And if they still make of fun of you after that?"

"Then they're little kids." Akko clarified with no further comments and the red team agreed as a whole.

* * *

Five minutes.

It was already five _goddamn_ minutes since one and Akko was _upsettingly_ late for her meet-up with Diana. How could she be so irresponsible!? Well, she couldn't help herself, Professor Chariot just looked so outstanding in the library; with her red hair flowing behind her like that and the way she read a book—

Akko slapped her own face. ' _Not the time to fangirl!'_ She then looked around the room and found no trace of the gold staff. "Lotte, where did you put the Shiny Rod?"

Lotte, who was busy snickering about how ridiculous the brunette looked as she slapped her own genius head, came inside and whipped her head around the room, trying to recall where she had placed the wand. "Uhh… Under the Sucy's shelf, I think." She finally said.

"Why did you keep it there?" Sucy asked, widening her eyes.

Lotte looked oddly suspicious. "It's, uh, kind of where I put ridiculous stuff sometimes," she said and a look in her eyes told her she had did that many times already despite it only being their fourth day in Luna Nova. Sucy's face expressed flatness.

Akko decided not to comment on that and went straight to the cabinet where a display of Sucy's vials and potions were on top of it. She kneeled down and looked over the spot under the furniture. "Where are you, where are you…" she whispered and then she saw the gold ornament of the Shiny Rod next to a tiny book, no doubt belonged to Lotte (she saw her minimizing all of her things with magic). "Ugh," Rolling her eyes at the memory, her hand reached for the wand. When she gripped it, feeling the familiar cold metal of the Shiny Rod, Akko smiled. "Got it!"

But behind the cluster of random items, she noticed red dots that shone behind a tiny box. Akko stared at it, fixated. They stared at each other, their own red eyes searching, when all of the sudden—

"HISSSSS!" It hissed and started to crAWL AT HER DIRECTION, OH _GOOD JENIFFER_ —

"Eek!" Akko went to stand up but it seemed she had forgotten about the cabinet and her head had hit its underside. "GAKH!"

"Akko!" she hears the other two gasp and then heard their own shrieks, as if the rat (it was a definitely a rat) was suddenly at their feet.

"Ughh…" She began to rub the spot where it was sore and then heard a familiar sound of thumping, which made her look up and made her see that Sucy's own viAL COLLECTION WAS ABOUT TO FALL DOWN, IT'S FALLING DOWN, HOLY CRAP—

Akko's hands dropped the Shiny Rod and they quickly swiped at the box of rattling potions and bottles. They stopped their choir of anxiety which they planned of bringing to the floor with them and Akko's nerves stopped jittering. ' _Safe.'_ she thought, relieved that the potions didn't drop or else it would've…

And then Akko heard it. A single, lone tune of something thumping, too similar to the sound she just recently stopped and her eyes traveled back to the cabinet's top. There, she saw a single, small potion which she identified had no cork on, rattling into her direction, and without warning—

 _TINK!_

 _SMASH!_

It bounced off her head and crashed into shards behind her.

… Huh. Akko expected something… more horrendous, considering this was Sucy's collection. Relief washed over her heart again and she sighed with a small smile. _Thank Jennifer._

"And SCRAM!" She heard Lotte scream and their door closed with a deafening slam. She turned to her, red with wide eyes and was about to say something before she paused.

Akko blinked at her and handed Sucy her box, who was staring at her, too. "What?" she asked. "Something on my face?"

"Pfft," Akko turned to Lotte and she was red again, only this time her face twitched in a way that didn't serve Akko any mercy. And finally, the blonde's limit passed and she points at her head. "LEAF HEAD!"

* * *

It was in Akko's nature to present herself in public in the most proper way possible, despite that she's not too picky about her clothing and whatnot. She hadn't been a famous girl in her middle school days, which was a fact that she didn't want to revert, but unpopularity was not an excuse to walk out of a room with mismatched clothes and hair that looked like a bird's nest. It's fair to go home like that (dont ask) but to go outside? Absolutely not!

However, in the world of magic, Akko suspected traditional witches to come out in robes of different colors and unusual hair, with familiars behind their backs or shoulders. So… So coming out to the courtyard with a tree, no, _plant_ , on top of her head couldn't be so out of place, right? Like, look at Lotte! She goes out in class with bed hair and wouldn't do anything about it until Akko decides to comb it for her. So having a weird plant thing on her head wouldn't be so weird! Yeah! It wouldn't be!

But as Akko steps out from the column and begins her way where Diana was waiting, her wand and hair glinting against the sunlight, Akko's face began to grow red and hot, as the heiress's attention swerved to her and her eyes caught her personal friend up there, and all the brunnete wanted to do was to bury herself under a rock until the world blows up.

Why didn't Sucy tell her that she had a random potion with no cork hanging on top of her cabinet!? One that makes a plant pop out of anything at that! But that was the end of it. Even both of Lotte and Sucy's grip-power wasn't enough to pull the thing out and Akko didn't have enough time to think of a solution and was already so late to go to the courtyard so she had no choice but to go in this unrefined fashion.

Diana, Akko concluded, must be a really open-minded girl because when she greeted her, she didn't say one word about her plant on her head, which the brunette was grateful for. "You really came!" she said and the relief on her words was not lost on her.

The brunette nodded her head slightly forward, her plant now in full angle but knowing well Diana was worried about her very tardy arrival. "I sincerely apologize for being exceedingly late. Some things, ah, came up and… happened, unfortunately."

Snickering. Akko heard snickering. Her eyes flashed to the space behind Diana and there she saw the blonde's teammates snickering behind their hands. Their laughter was not caused by something happening behind Akko, no, they were laughing _at_ Akko. No doubt she was the cause; no doubt her _plant_ was the cause.

Akko burns redder but she decides to focus on Diana instead of them. "Oh, no, no, no, don't be, don't be," Diana said and in a hearty tone, she added, "In fact, I should be the one apologizing since I suddenly invited you out here."

And her duo stopped laughing. Akko stopped flushing too and tilted her head. She asks, "Yes, that reminds me, why _did_ you invite me here?" The brunette took out the piece of parchment. "And how did you know about the Shiny Rod?"

Now it was Diana's turn to flush. She averted her blue eyes slightly to left, avoiding Akko's gaze and murmured, "I, uh, kind of saw you carrying it. In the hallways." Akko widened her eyes. "But not in a bad way, not in a bad way! It was by chance, really, and—and I was just interested!"

Akko stood frozen as she processed her words. _Well, look at that, Sucy was right_ , she thought. A deep urge to bang her head against Luna Nova's columns appeared at the back of the brunette's mind but she had to assess the situation at hand first. Self-berate should come later. Steeling herself, she clenched her fist and said, "Alright then. So what do you need?"

Diana's eyes gleamed and Akko steadied herself to not freeze and look into those cobalt hues. "Oh, I'm just getting to that," she said, her movements jumpy. "I wanted a, uh… Han, what was that word again?"

The girl with flaming, red hair leaned in. "'Query'."

"Right! Query!" Diana repeated. "I wanted to do some sort of contest."

Akko raised a brow. A contest? "What of?"

Diana smiled and pulled out her wand. "Magic."

Her mouth became sandpaper. "Magic?" Why magic? In fact, why chose her to do this contest with her in the first place!? But as far as Akko's rationalism can go by, her touch with the Shiny Rod suddenly became very rigid, as if she was ready to swing it like a baseball bat.

"Yeah!" Diana nodded. "You can use the Shiny Rod if you want. But, I mean, it probably shouldn't even be hard for you, like, you even summoned a Leyline Portal!" Akko raised a brow. What was this girl talking about? "We can start with something easy like… an animation spell?"

Akko almost flinched. An animation spell? Was she kidding? That spell needed a vast amount of concentration and doing it here in courtyard, you must've reached nirvana to perform such a spell. But the worst thing that she got hit by her sentence was the fact that Diana called it 'easy'. Which part of doing an animation spell was easy? Akko sputtered, "But that sort of spell is—"

"We can try it on that statue!" That 20 foot thing!?

The brunette nearly let her jaw drop but knowing full well it would reference fear, which she swore to never show in Luna Nova, she gripped the Shiny Rod tighter and clenched her teeth. Diana waited, her friendly smile and aura all too infectious and it took all of Akko to stop fleeing away from this spot. Taking a deep sigh, she began. "No. I won't do it."

 _There_ Diana's smile drops. She pouts. "Why not?"

"Because this is utterly insipid and I will _not_ trifle with dealings like this." She answered sharply and looked at the heiress straight in the eyes.

Diana, looking confused for a second, leaned back to her teammates and whispered, "What does that mean?"

Barbara answered, "She meant this is pointless,"

"Pointless!" she cried and switched her attention to Akko. "No—No, it's not! I swear I'm just really interested in _you_ —r grade! Like, you managed to get a scholarship the hard way despite looking average—"

Akko dropped her face and leered at the blonde. "Average?"

Diana visibly pales. "Not like that, not like that!" she backpedals. "I mean, uh, you're really smart and all that and I thought, we could uh, get down… or something? Wait, shit, uh—"

Akko shook her head and decided to cut her off before she could stutter further. "Stop, stop," she said. "I take it you're just surprised because you didn't expect someone to score a hundred-percent on the entrance exam?"

Diana stopped stumbling on her words and nodded. "Yeah, yeah! That's exactly where I was going with! I've also scored a perfect scholarship, too you know, in the traditional entrance exam," Red eyes went large. "And this is the first time I've heard of someone getting such a huge score! Normally, muggles like you," The brunette winced at the word, "or non-magic people who enter this school don't really get any higher than a 98 and I kind of want to see what people like you could do, you know? Of course, not that I'm—"

Akko couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was… Was Diana insinuating that Akko didn't have the type to enter this school? All of the sudden, blood was rushing into her head. Of course. _Of course_. Nobody would think an average girl like Akko would get into this school. Heck, her mother even told her to drop this dream of hers and get into that stupid prestigious school she wanted. And Diana, of course, wouldn't expect one thought of someone from Japan to reach here in this academia. Hidden exasperation and wrath rises up in Akko's throat and she constricted the Shiny Rod's metal with her palm.

Alright then. If it takes Akko to prove herself to this heiress that she was worthy of being a student in this school, then prove she shall.

"Fine. I'll do it." She snapped and looked straight into her eyes. Akko made sure Diana could see that she won't befall on her category of muggles. "An animation spell on this statue, correct?"

Diana stood frozen for a moment, her blue eyes searching before she resumed her smiling. "Yeah, this one. Whoever could perform the better magic wins."

Akko nods. "Alright. Nothing too hard."

Her feet started to move in front of the stone statue. It towered over Akko, its tip hiding hints of the sun overhead of them and she gripped the Shiny Rod in both of her palms. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Lotte and Sucy looking worried, sharing glances at one another before the former threw a shake of her head at her. Akko ignored it and instead focused at the statue in front of her.

"Hey," Diana suddenly said. Akko strains her neck a bit, suddenly aware that a certain amount of witches had come and gather to see them. As she finally sees her, she glanced back only to see the sight of the blonde gracing another smile, only that it wasn't the same smile she had never seen the days before prior. It was bright, sure, but something underneath it was broody. "No hard feelings, okay?"

And those words alone, Akko's anger vanished. No hard feelings…

Her earlier talk with her teammates reappeared. _"Hey, she's not so bad though,"_ Sucy said _. "Despite her lineage, she's kind of naïve, too. Look at the paper she gave you, do you think there's something out of this other than a friendly chat?"_

Akko bit her lip. Nothing… Nothing would go wrong with this… right? Her heart swelled and her thoughts jumbled but one thing came on the front of her mind. _Be a good sport._ She thought. _You're not going anywhere if you play with anger alone_. Akko glances back at Diana and felt the same thing as she had felt when she had reread the paper Diana had given her before. First there was irritation then it slowly disintegrated into something such as guilt, guilty for assuming things ahead of her. Diana is naïve. No way is she going to play her. No way is there a chance for her to end up in a pile here in the courtyard.

The brunette refocused on the statue in front of her and rewind to what she knew about animation spells.

Animation spells often befell on the category of puppetry. They're often used for inanimate dolls, usually voodoo or stuffed animals. Greater magic was required for it to be used on live beings, such as humans or actual animals for a supporting soul would conflict with your magical connection. All inanimate objects have different pronunciations of incantations. Cotton and clothe would be _Ansolow Gairo_ , wood or sticks would be _Ansolew Haero_ and stones and clay would be…

Akko lifted the Shiny Rod up and then pointed it the statue. " _Ansolo Airo_!"

…

…

Nothing. Akko looked up and saw the statue as it is. Her heart dropped. No, no, no, no, she studied what the proper incantation was, she always knew what to say, not a lick of what she said was mispronounced. But with how the statue was acting, which was not, she supposed she had mispronounced something.

She repeated again, only this time her words were more powerful. " _Ansolo Airo_!"

Nothing.

" _Ansolo Airo_!"

Still nothing.

" _Ansolo Airo_! _Ansolo Airo_! _Ansolo Airo_!"

Whichever direction she swung her golden staff, whichever way she pronounced the spell, nothing worked. Akko was down to screaming her last incantation and she was left winded. The statue was cold and unmoving, looming over the brunette with its shadow.

Akko couldn't believe it… No, she must've misremembered the wrong incantation, but she was sure she on this was—

" _Ansolew Airo_!" Her red eyes widened.

 _That wasn't me_ , was the first thing Akko thought as the words rang across her head. The ground began to tremble and her ankles were shaking without anything to be frightened of. But as she looked up from the Shiny Rod, she sees why they did.

The statue opened its rock eyelids and beyond them were iris-less stones. The statue started to move and Akko stood agape, fear washing over her.

It really began to loom over her, its head leaning forward and its shadow becoming darker. Akko gasped as it let go of its partner. She'd never been so alarmed in her life. Her insides screamed ' _RUN!'_ but as she did two steps behind her, her legs ready to flee like a mouse, the statue's hand zeroed onto her.

 _It's coming, it's coming, it's coming_ —She screamed, fell down flat on the floor and covered her head, the Shiny Rod falling onto her lap. _It's going to smash right through me, it's going down, it's going down_ —

A gust of air swept her head and cold cylinders touched her plant, which she nearly forgot. For one second, she didn't breathe and her limbs became granite, before the stoney fingers of the statue went away and Akko felt the plant being pulled out of her.

Akko gave herself two seconds to pause before she looked up.

The statue became as it was before. Motionless. Cold.

She never noticed how her breathing labored. Akko leaned back as she stared at statue, eyes wide and nerves awake than ever before, her brain just waiting for the statue to move again. Though its appearance wasn't half of what the Cockatrice from Arcturus Forest did, without the assurance of Shiny Rod's magic and the accompaniment of her teammates, she was ashamed to say it frightened her.

In the silence of the courtyard, she almost forgot there was an audience.

"Pfft—"

Her heart stopped.

" _HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH_!"

Akko looked around and found students have formed a circle all around the courtyard in a fair distance, laughing and pointing at her.

She shakily stood up, her grip on her Shiny Rod not so tight anymore. They're laughing at her. They're _laughing_. Akko's mind swerved from all directions, still daft from her experience with the statue, and she felt like she wanted to puke. She couldn't see Lotte and Sucy, they were nowhere in her sight. What had happened?

 _You embarrassed yourself in front of the whole school, that's what happened_. A voice told her and Akko felt like she'd just been slugged in the stomach.

Heat rushed to her head and it felt like she'd just step out of a ride that spins repeatedly. She went queasy, as if her lunch was lurching in her throat. _They're laughing, they're laughing, you made yourself a laughingstock because you were so careless, you didn't even cast the correct incantation, and you lost the contest— THE CONTEST!_

Akko gasped and looked back at Diana—

She was snickering.

She wasn't chortling like her teammates, who were doubling over with tears rimming their eyes, but she was hiding behind her mane of blonde and green hair, her wand was hanging on her left hand with the other covering her mouth, and the way her shoulders shook, it was no mistaking, she was _laughing_.

Diana… won.

She won.

She had been the one who made that statue move, no one else in this campus could, not _that_ flawlessly. But the worse thing was that she didn't even wait for Akko to end her turn. She just did it right on the spot and even took out her plant!

Akko stood as still as the statue above her and her ears were being deafened by the student's laughter but her eyes remained at Diana's figure. In her mind, gears started to click in place and her logic had finally caught up.

 _This was a trap._

Akko had never felt so stupid in her _life_. That paper, her sudden invitation, her being so keen on Akko's scholarship… She must've planned this the moment she knew about it. And with her connection with all of the other team of witches, no doubt she was planning on making her look bad in front of the whole school.

The very idea made Akko angrier than a bull.

She couldn't believe this. She was stupid, _so stupid_ , how couldn't have seen this in the first place? Her face felt suddenly hot, partly from embarrassment, but it was mostly another emotion entirely. It felt like it was the same thing she had with her middle school classmates, when they had told her they could trust her when its ending was the exact opposite.

Fury boiled in her stomach and she felt tears stinging behind her eyes. Yep, they were coming all right, but she strained herself and let herself glare at Diana further. _This foul, unfair outwit_!

From the crowd to her left, a girl whispered, "Hey, look, look, Kagari looks like she's about to cry." The same spot stopped snickering and waited in for the tears to fall but Akko would fail at Linguistics first before she could even dare to let one drop slip.

Steeling herself, she took a deep breath, gave one last glance at the blonde brat before she walked off. A voice told her that was acting such a _sore loser_ but she was too angry to even acknowledge it. She'd been played like a doll and Akko felt so degraded that she wanted to throw herself off a ledge.

Students gave way, and a low chorus of, "Oooohhhh," was recited behind her. ' _Go to hell_ ,' she thought and started towards the nearest entrance to the castle. She swiftly stalked off and once she was behind a column, the courtyard exploded into praises, and Akko, unfortunately, caught a few students chanting Diana's name, which only angered her further.

She decided to block out the sound until she reached a steep staircase where she only passed once, her mind going a hundred miles per hour on speculation and whatnot all the while thinking about how annoying this entire event was to her. As Akko mulled over the fact she had been an utter idiot, she never realized how hard she gripped the Shiny Rod until someone grabbed her wrist.

She turned back, annoyed, and lookey here, it was none other than the Cavendish herself.

Cavendish looked frantic, her chest puffing while her hair was a mess, its ponytail looking like it was going to fall off from its tie. And her eyes, they looked so guilty that Akko was almost tempted to forgive her. Almost. No way was she going to get off the hook after what she did to her.

But instead of a sorry like was needed in this situation, you know what Diana asked her?

"Where are you going?"

Akko swatted her hand off her wrist and gave her a hard glare. "Where I'm going is not your business, Cavendish."

She winced at her name and then looked at Akko with those guilty eyes. "Hey, what are you angry about? I'm just asking why you suddenly left the courtyard. We haven't finished ye—"

"Let me stop you right there," Akko cut her off. "For one thing, I didn't expect an audience, okay? And if you want a _proper_ contest, you could've at least have waited for your turn."

She glared and Cavendish stood frozen before she shook her head. "Well, I-I thought you were finished already," she argued. "I mean, you didn't even say the right spell, anyway, and with all the people around…"

Akko clenched her teeth. "So instead you performed the spell amidst my turn and humiliated me in front of the whole school. You know, Cavendish, just because you and I have gotten a perfect scholarship in this academy does not mean we're already friends," She looked shocked. "And if you have any other agendas other than doing these sort of _spiffs_ , I suggest you go to them right now."

Akko turned her heel and marched off further into the stairs only for the blonde to step in front of her, glaring at her, too. "Look, what do you need? An apology? I don't even know what I did!"

She clenched her teeth and decided to just go down the stairs and leave this girl. She whispered, "Just like every other subject, huh."

The blonde gasped, and then in a spur of anger, she said, "Hey, it's not my fault you're horrible at magic!"

* * *

The moment those words were out of Diana's mouth, she wanted to take them back and sew her trap shut. Of course, that was possible with the amount of knowledge she had now but with Atsuko locking their gazes at each other, she couldn't move a muscle.

Diana could see it in her eyes, Atsuko was hurt. In those red orbs, it conveyed shock, and then pain before it transformed into something worse; anger.

Yep, Diana was toast.

"I'm… I'm so-sorry, I didn't—"

"So, it's that sort of thing, huh."

"Wha—?"

Diana held her breath Atsuko stepped closer to her, and if she went any farther than that, they could've bumped each other's noses. "Look, Cavendish. I don't like you. At all. You've humiliated me in front of the school and then proceeded to insult me in front of my face. And for what? All because you're envious of my perfect score in the written entrance examination?"

Diana couldn't help it. "I'm not envious of anything! Hell, I don't even care about your scholarship, it's lame anyway!" she shot back before she clasped her palm over her mouth. An apology was ready at the tip of her tongue but Akko's scowl, which had deepened, made her shut up easy.

"So you think it's lame? Studying? Of course, such an aristocrat as you wouldn't be so interested in studies, anyway, what did I expect anything out of you?"

What the fu—!

"Do you want a fight?" Diana growled, the brunette's statement hitting a nerve.

Atsuko wasn't even scared. In fact, the anger in her eyes seemed to intensify and Diana just realized how out of line she was.

"Yes, in fact, _I do_." She stood up straighter, and though Diana was at least taller than Atsuko by one stair and a couple of centimeters, she seemed to be looming over her. "You asked for a contest between us then a contest we shall have. From now on,"

Diana sweated as Atsuko's Shiny Rod was suddenly jutted at her face.

"We are rivals."

And with that, Atsuko stepped back and shoved past Diana, though it was swift and quick and wasn't even forceful, Diana felt like she'd just been kneed in the gut.

As she processed what had happened, an internal scream was summoned from the depths of her mind. ' _THIS IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT I WANTED WITH HER.'_

* * *

 **Me: alright, so it's Christmas break and I have all the time to do stuff—**

 **Writer's block: what stuff?**

 **Me: … what?**

 **Writer's block: That cheesecake was delicious.**

 **Me: …**

 **Writer's block: wanna eat it all before 2AM?**

 **Me: … but... i havent beta-read this yet...**

* * *

 **Replies:**

 ** _Fyras14_ : Honestly, with the pace of these two, it's not going to end up pretty.**

 ** _TyikkMikk_ : You have no idea how hard it was for me to balance her out.**

 ** _Akilice_ : Thanks! I also got bored of the same routine, too, and it was high-time for my soul to see these two go sour at each other.**


	4. Chapter 4

It didn't take long for Diana to realize that her small problems about Atsuko had exploded into a problem bigger than Aunt Daryl's wig, and that was saying a lot. She was daft most of the time, sure, but even she wasn't dense enough to not see that she had screwed up.

Big-time.

Diana screwed up big-time.

She could just _feel_ Atsuko's resent for her from the dorm and the fact that she's in eighty percent of her classes, which meant she had to be in the same room as her for about six hours per weekday, did not help.

And that wasn't the end of it. Sucy and Lotte were also set to ignore her too, and though she didn't talk to them much, it was already clear they didn't want to talk to her either. Especially not after witnessing that she had shot their team leader with a Murowa spell.

And the worse thing is all of the other witches acted like Diana did something noble when in fact she did something so awful she might have as well been exiled from the Cavendish family. They didn't know that she and the red team almost had a fight under the Jennifer tree. At dinner yesterday, a student talked about how amazing Diana was for saving the tree when in fact it was Atsuko who figured out that it wasn't dying and was the one who casted the correct spell to let those cocoons hatch, much to her amazement.

Professors and students kept on bothering her with compliments that day; they said Diana was so talented with magic and that she 'showed' Atsuko Kagari what a real witch was. But what did she show off? Being a huge jerk wasn't one so she didn't have other ideas why.

Today was Friday so it meant that they were going to have their first class practicing magic. It's going to be happening on the third period, so forty of them would be on the field with brooms and witch hats on by ten twenty to noon. The thought brought a smile to Diana's face but realizing Atsuko was also in that class, it was wiped off completely.

Speaking of Atsuko, it was clear that she was taking their rivalry thing seriously. Before Broom Flying class was Astronomy and Potions class, which both held quizzes, and Atsuko seemed to be relentless to perfect both. _That_ left Diana in the dust with her C's. After Astronomy ended, the red team quickly slipped out of the room and Diana had no chance of getting a word of apology to Atsuko.

After the Pappilodiya event, Diana recalled she was forgiven of her 'schemes' but no doubt Atsuko was still angry with her. What indicated it was because, well, she was _scarce_ the whole night after it. Like, she avoided everybody aside from her teammates and whenever Diana was even _ten_ feet around her, she would turn away almost instantly and acted like she didn't want to be with her.

' _Of course she wouldn't_ ,' Diana thought as she picked up her broom from the floor. ' _You accidently shot her with a careless Murowa spell. You should be ashamed of yourself.'_

She tapped the broom's brush repeatedly to get off any more dust and made her way to the corridor where Barbara and Hannah were waiting. They were now in their outside uniforms, purple robes over their uniforms with witch hats planted on their heads, wands hanging on their blue sashes.

"Ready?" Barbara asked and Diana nodded. They went down towards the field and made their way around the group of witches their age.

When they arrived at the field, Diana scanned the crowd quickly and her eyes landed on the familiar shade of brown that was topped with Luna Nova's hat. When she turned around, Diana couldn't believe how shiny those red orbs were, positively glittering with excitement while she held her broom close to her chest.

' _To think she's the same girl who resents me_ ,' Diana thought as she stared at Atsuko who kept on bouncing on her feet with Sucy placing her hands on Atsuko's shoulders to stop her from moving too much. Lotte looked about as interested in Broom Flying class as she was interested in History class.

Her chest started to throb after the front of her mind replayed Atsuko's angry face. ' _Can we be even friends at this point?'_ Diana frowned. But, well, her chances may have gone slimmer than before but a chance is still a chance. She can still redeem herself to Atsuko. Or so she hoped.

She looked down on her own broom, wanting to think of something else other than mulling over her wrongdoings. It wasn't the same thing as the one she had back in the Cavendish Manor, but it seemed okay. She just hoped she could fly as well as the next witch.

"Alright, class!" All chattering stopped and Diana looked over to the source of the sound, not expecting Professor Nelson, who Diana knew as a meek and peculiar flying teacher, to sound so loud. Oh wait, she's just using a megaphone spell. "Attendance has been made so everyone, please form lines of ten!"

They did so and Diana was in front of the line with nine other students behind her. Two lines to her left, there stood Atsuko in the front, her teammates behind her along with seven other witches. Diana glanced at her, guilt building up in her chest again before her eyes travelled to the next line. She immediately recognized that red hair and startling green eyes.

' _So Amanda's here, too, huh?_ ' The heiress thought and she smiled a bit, almost forgetting about the brunette again. ' _Well, at least I can have someone to race with.'_

* * *

When the red team came back to their dorm after the Pappilodiya event, Akko had learned from Sucy (as Lotte was too embarrassed to tell her herself) that a string of fights had occurred after the brunette had left the courtyard.

Of course, not _physical_ fights (Akko wouldn't let Lotte hear the end of it), but it was close to one. When Diana left to go after her, Lotte had taken it as a cue to stand up against Hannah and Barbara and, well, Sucy didn't want to repeat their dialogues for the tantamount of swear words. What happened was the red team had apparently been ganged up against the popular witches, talking about how witches would team up with a magicless, smartass of a girl with no heritage and whatnot.

"I was _this_ close to slapping Barbara, Akko!" Lotte told her as she pinched her fingers together, the tips of the index and thumb almost touching. " _This close_!"

Antagonized, shunned, bullied; a lot of things happened before they left the courtyard and they were reunited again at the green house where Sucy insisted on staying for the vast vegetation of mushrooms around. Only the senior witches were present and they hadn't known what happened yet so the other two agreed. It was sort of peaceful, the garden, where only a handful of students their batch went.

Then the Pappilodiya event happened.

Things had just gone so fast, Akko thought it was a dream. In a summary, the Shiny Rod worked, proving that it _wasn't_ fake, the cocoons successfully hatched, and the Jennifer Tree was revived. Oh, and Diana accidently set off a Murowa spell in her direction but Akko supposes that she just hadn't known about those butterflies.

Akko sighed and tapped her lower back, right below her waist where the spell hit her, the burn still quite stinging her skin. Right now she was in the garden near the greenhouse again with Sucy somewhere collecting mushrooms, Lotte's chessboard in front of her with the pieces scattered.

She and the blonde played for a moment before Akko had told her that she should really do her report homework as it was due an hour ago, which made Lotte leave the greenhouse in a screaming fit.

The brunette stared at the pieces, her black knight almost into Lotte's territory, and her plan of checkmating her King now gone. Akko wasn't particularly interested in chess, but she did know the rules well enough. She was more or less a Shogi girl but since she didn't bring any of the sorts, she just chose chess since that was the only available board game that they could take here in the greenhouse. She went ahead and cleaned off the board and began to rearrange the pieces again, this time the white pieces on her side.

Sucy was nowhere to be seen so she had no one to play with. ' _I knew I should have brought a book but this chess set was already so heavy…'_ Akko thought, despairing over the air of boredom but she moved her pawn anyway.

She stared at the piece, not expecting the other side to move, but she heard a simple sound of wood clanging against the board and she looked up.

It was a student from her batch. Akko almost flinched at the color of her eyes. They were bright green, shiny, framed by long and sharp eyelashes. "Sorry but I saw that you needed someone to play with," she said with an awkward but hearty laugh. She was tall, with tanned skin and red hair with an even redder underside. She sat with on the chair opposite of Akko. "May I?"

Akko raised a brow but she nodded. "It's alright." Another student had approached her. Akko became wary instantly, not sure if whether or not was this girl going to harass her like Parker or England or end up like Cavendish.

She moved her knight and flashed her green eyes at her. "Your turn." Akko moved her bishop and locked eyes with the girl, unsure. She looked amused and moved a pawn. They went on for a few more moments before all of the sudden, with Akko growing more and more tantalizing of the stiffness around, the girl said, "You know you don't have to be so tense. This is just chess, after all."

Akko leered at her. "If so, I can safely assume that you don't have any plans of harassing me, then?" she spat, not even minding her rudeness, already so agitated with the awkward tension around them.

"Yes, you can." Akko looked up from the board and found a guilty expression on her face. "Look, I don't mean anything wrong. I just want a fair game of chess without any chips or bolts around the table."

The concept was the same as Cavendish's yesterday but the 'chips' and 'bolts' was quite unexpected. Akko furrowed her brows. "Unfortunately, the one who said that last is now a person I resent so you're all too hopeful that I'll fall for such thing again."

"Ah, but we're in Luna Nova's garden so pulling a thing like Diana did would be quite demanding. For one, people already think you're magicless and they've been aching for a reason bully you so I think your fiasco yesterday and this morning in Flying class would be enough to satisfy their egos." Akko glared, knowing well she almost failed that class.

"And there are only two kinds of witches who go here," the girl continued. "Witches who love to ace Professor Lukic's class and witches running away from the courtyard."

Akko scoffed. "I didn't run away."

"And I didn't plan on getting on your bad-side," She smiled remorsefully. "I saw what happened yesterday… And, uh, on behalf of the green team, I'm sorry for not helping you when you guys needed it. "

Akko dropped her face and stared at the girl incredulously. "You were there?"

"Almost half of our batch did." She explained and her eyes softened. "My team didn't want any trouble so we stayed low but we knew how awful the other teams treated your teammates. The purple and blue team, they've gone especially out of line."

The brunette studied the girl. She looked honestly… guilty. Why would she? They hadn't even exchanged names and yet this girl is talking about how she should have stood up against the others yesterday. Hadn't it been that she looked genuinely upset, Akko wouldn't have hesitated to say that she's lying. Because those eyes couldn't just show that glint on their own, could they?

Finally, after a heartbeat of silence, Akko said, "Alright." She moved her dormant Rook in the middle of the board.

The girl raised a brow but the shine in her eyes betrayed her passiveness ever so lightly. "You believe me?" She moved her Knight and took out the Rook.

Akko took the Knight with her Queen, mindless of the risk. "Yes."

"Well…" Akko didn't flinch when her Queen was taken out. "That's great! Oh, my name's Amanda, by the way," She extended an arm and opened her palm.

Akko stared at it, and she suddenly felt scathing. It was like a broken record with different lyrics, dissolved hatred building up in her stomach at this too-familiar situation. Akko felt like flipping over the table. Then somewhere, a small stubborn part of her mind had finally loomed over her map of doubt and gave vengeance for her logic. ' _Get a grip_!' she thought 'This isn't _Diana_.' She stared at those green eyes and urged herself to snap out of her stupid trauma of hers. It was stupid to doubt.

Akko took Amanda's rough hand, firmly though hesitantly.

"Atsuko Kagari. You may call me Atsuko." One shake and they retracted their arms and went back to the game.

Turns out, as Atsuko mused, Amanda was rather good at chess. She already took out one of her knights and Bishops with four pawns. Akko had Amanda's Knight, Bishop and three of her pawns but Amanda's Rook and other Knight stood protectively around her King. Amanda's Bishop was face to face with Akko's pawn, with her Rook nearing the King but if she made any advances, the Queen would scoop it up and Akko would have no more backups in case her Pawns betrays her King.

Akko began to contemplate on whether or not to perform a castling in the next two moves when Amanda spoke again.

"If I may ask, do you know Constanze?"

The brunette looks up and found Amanda staring at her expectantly. She nods. "Yes. She's in my Magictronics class. Why?" She moves back her Rook.

Amanda's eyes lit up and she smiled. "Oh! Well, I just wanted to say that she kind of talks about you in our dorm," She moved her Bishop. "Saying that there was this Asian girl who she wants to be friends with."

Akko paused, her hand nearing to touch her King but she shook her head. "And…?" She did a castling.

Amanda moved her Bishop still. "She wants to meet you, and to be frank, I think you guys will get along well."

The brunette stared at her Bishop then at Amanda. She looked at her expectantly, with that excited glint in her eyes and Akko felt herself flush. Somebody wanting to be friends with her? Never once in her life had she been approached in this sort of means, unless it was connected to some sort benefit they could get out in the end, like projects and requirements and whatnot.

She felt herself swallowing before she moved her Bishop across the board, in the line of Amanda's King. "Checkmate."

Amanda countered by moving her Rook in front of the Bishop's range. "You know, the rich teams aren't the only ones who can make affiliations with others, Atsuko."

Akko looked up and found a grin on Amanda's face. She moved her Rook. "Are you saying you want to team up the Green and Red teams?"

"It's your choice!" The redhead chirped and moved her pawn. "Luna Nova allows it. Generally, witches don't really form packs like wolves but with all the projects that involves many dangers coming along, it's better to team up with five witches instead of being on your own."

Atsuko contemplated the offer. She moved back her Bishop. "Luna Nova _does_ have some peculiar projects."

"Exactly why there are teams instead of individual witches. The dorms weren't the only reason why you're with Manbavaran and Yansson." Amanda smile grew wider and moved her Knight. "I assume you already know this but the Nine implemented rules for witches who studied here in Luna Nova to walk around in teams rather than have them alone to decrease chances of danger, even if the school is fortified by defense spells and barriers."

"Yes, that's true," Atsuko nodded. "But why choose the red team? There are other teams so why approach us? After all, if Luna Nova allows affiliations then it wouldn't be so strange for one team to have more than one associated team on their shoulders." She countered and moved her pawn.

"Why?" Then Akko saw it. Amanda's Rook. "It's mostly for Constanze's sake but I would also prefer to have one of the stronger teams to be in our favor than the otherwise. Checkmate."

Akko looked over the board and found her King had nowhere to go. She can't move on top because of the pawns and she can't move left for the Queen would take it. Right had Amanda's knight. Her other pieces are too scattered off to come back and guard it. Sacrificing her Rook would be futile. And Amanda's pawn was so near her end of the board that were it have one more move, it would become another piece directly in front of her King so indeed, Akko lost the game.

Akko gaped a bit before closing her mouth. She smiled dryly. "Tactful, O'Neill. Tactful."

Amanda only smiled. "Kind of like Weasley, eh?"

"Weasley?"

"Oh, just a joke I'm used to hear. Red hair. The chess thing." Amanda motioned both respectively.

Akko giggled. "Only left now are freckles."

Amanda grinned. "So, what do you say? You might need someone tactuful here in Luna Nova." She took out her hand again and this time, Akko didn't feel so suspicious anymore. She took it and gave a firm shake.

* * *

Today was a Saturday, Diana's first free day here in Luna Nova and Barbara's first plan of spending it was to go to Blatonbury and drop their letters in mailboxes.

Of course, not that Diana had anything against it. She made a letter to Andrew too, but she was just thinking of ditching the mail and send it… three or two weeks later. But both Hannah and Barbara insisted so much on sending their letters to their family that Diana just shrugged and agreed to come along with them.

So with reluctance, Diana wore her cloak over her uniform and took out her letter from her drawer. Guess she's gonna expect something from Andrew later on. As the blue team exited their chambers, they began to descend onto the courtyard where other witches dazed about but as Diana looked over the courtyard, she saw that familiar shade of brown glinting against the sunlight.

Atsuko was standing behind a column, a book in her palm, Lotte and Sucy nowhere with her. Weird. In the past week, they've been everywhere together and now she was suddenly all alone? In the courtyard?

But as Diana continued to wait for Atsuko to do anything, something zoomed past her. She gasped and focused on the flying thing before she recognized it as the robot one of Amanda's teammates had. What was it… A Wanbot? No, a Stanbot.

The bot flied overhead of the courtyard with other witches barely gave it a glance before going back to their business. As the bot lowered from the sky, it began to glide to Atsuko. Diana stared curiously as the brunette looked up from her book.

And before anything else, from the corner of her eye, Diana saw Green team's very own Constanze Albretchsberger running into the courtyard and ramming into Atsuko happily. Atsuko yelped in surprise as Constanze, shorter than her by a head, wrapped her arms around her waist.

Diana gaped. They knew each other? Well, Diana did hear from Hannah that Constanze was excelling in Magitronics class so it wouldn't be too weird for them to become friends. But Diana had never seen anyone get close to Atsuko as that before. It was almost bizarre.

Atsuko patted Constanze in the back and the shorter girl retracted, jumping up and down before the Stanbot dropped in her hands. The small robot began to beep and Atsuko said something Diana can't hear.

The heiress blinked at them for a moment before out came the rest of the green team. Amanda and Jasminka walked side by side and tailing them were Sucy and Lotte. Both teams gathered to where Atsuko and Constanze were and they began to chatter.

Diana stared at them for a few moments, wondering why on earth they were all here in the courtyard before Barbara's, "Diana!" snapped her out of her thoughts. Her mind was running, furrowing her brows at the weird sight before she decided to follow her other teammates.

A strange afterthought at the back of her mumbled something that the blue team could've been in that little meeting too, had Diana chosen her words better.

* * *

 **THIS TOOK TOO LONG BUT I FINALLY DID IT! It's not beta-read but I hope I could in the near future if I stop being shit.**

 **:'^D**

 **Thank you everyone who supported this fanfic!**


	5. Chapter 5

According to Hannah and Barbara, the red team had apparently made an alliance with the green team the day after the Papilliodopiya event. From Diana's eyes, weeks after they made their alliance, they seemed to be pretty comfortable with each other. Their dynamics was rather comical but then again, those teams were the hidden oddballs in their batch of witches.

The red team was indeed witty and infamous for their fast pace of events occurring every now and then but they've been considered a joke since they entered the amphitheatre. The green team was more untouchable with their collected members but nobody wants to touch them either. So all in all, their clique was rather unique in their own, odd way.

Diana wishes she was also odd in her own way. But she had already been considered as the school's ace so she can't really bother switching the crowd's mind. Luna Nova was filled with students of prejudice and bias so changing their minds would need a _big_ price. Bigger than the Cavendish's current debt.

' _Shit_ ,' thought Diana as she looks over a letter. Andrew, her childhood friend, had sent it. ' _That was a little too accurate._ '

It was written in the same manner as all letters she had received from the boy. And of course, as their summer conversations went, he was accepted and he was starting his high school life in the infamous rival school, Appleton, and apparently made a massive circle of friends in the first few days. His best friend, with what he described at least, was unexpected but then again, Diana had also made a rival too so she can't really judge, can she?

Diana chuckled as she went to the part where he wrote about his classmate accidentally bringing a porn magazine to the academy but in the back of her mind only thought about the week prior.

Her hands let go of the paper and they spread apart on the mattress. She can't believe she's been such a dolt. Her hands found their way around her blonde hair and swept back a few green strands.

Amanda was the last person she expected to befriend Atsuko. Even if she was on par with Atsuko's niftiness, she can't possibly get on her good side that quick. Or maybe it was and Diana was just really daft? That's… kind of likely but c'mon! She's trying but it seems Atsuko would much rather throw herself off a ledge than to speak a word to her.

Diana grumbled and sat up in her bed. She checked her wall clock and found it to be five PM, an hour before lunch. She puffed and looked back at Andrew's letter. She should just be finished with it. Grabbing the two piece of parchments back, she went back to where she stopped and continued to read down the letter with reluctance.

"Aw goddammit!" Diana flinched as she heard Barbara from behind her shelves.

"Sorry, Diana!" Hannah quickly replied and the blonde hears the sound of a pillow being thrown across the room. "Barb, stop, your ship won't be the only thing getting broken here in this room!"

Diana went back to the letter, thinking that Barbara was probably onto her laptop and watching some knickknack series again. But as she was about to look over the point where Andrew's signature was written over his name, she saw a small 'P.S.' written underneath it. Diana blinked at it curiously.

' _ **Dad just told me he's gonna bring me to Luna Nova for a special party! See you there'**_

Huh. So the Hanbridges are coming to Luna Nova.

… The Hanbridges are coming to Luna Nova.

 _The Hanbridges are coming to Luna Nova!_

Diana sprang up from her bed. "Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys!" She burst out of her part of the dorm and found Hannah and Barbara seated together on the latter's bed, hitting each other with pillows while a laptop plays on the side an ongoing soap-opera. "Andrew is coming to Luna Nova!"

"What?" Hannah stopped ramming her cushion to Barbara's face. "Andrew?"

"Amgroh?" Barbara spat out a feather from her mouth with a cough. "Why?"

"Uhh," Diana went back to the letter and sat on the edge of the bed. "I don't know, he just said Paul is going here and he's just tagging along." She glanced to her sides and found the two of them peering over her shoulders.

"Ugh, Mr. Hanbridge is coming here?" Barbara stuck out her tongue. "Bet that geezer just wants favor of the public again through his alliance with Luna Nova."

"Yeah," Hannah nodded. "That idiot just won't stop egging his attention to witches."

Diana rolled her eyes. "Aw, c'mon guys, it won't be that bad!" she said. The both of them glanced at each other before slowly shaking their heads. "… You guys really hate Paul that much?"

"That geezer keeps on inviting us for annoying parties!" Barbara said. "Han, you remember that time in middle school when the OVA Halloween special for Nightfall was out?"

"You mean that time when there was suddenly a limo on the gates?" Hannah recalled.

"Yeah! I can't believe we had to waste our night of Nightfall for some lame ball," Barbara huffed and leaned back to the mattress.

Diana tried a smile. "Oh, c'mon… But Andrew's going to be here. Can't you guys just trust him?" She asked and clapped her hands in front of her. She pulled out her puppy-dog eyes. "Please?"

Her teammates' hard faces softened at the sight of her watery blue eyes. They glanced at one another before sighing. "Alright." Hannah said and then glanced at Barbara who merely shrugged.

Diana's smile brightened. "Alright!"

"But what are they coming here for, anyway?" Barbara asked. The duo perked up and looked back at Diana expectantly.

Diana dropped her face. "Oh, uh…" She went back to the letter and tried to retrace any hints on his visit. She didn't spot any. "I don't know. He just suddenly said they're going."

Hannah cringed. "I hope it's not anything related to political correctness."

Barbara nodded. "I just hate it when we're being suppressed of our jokes."

"Hah," Diana laughed and then remembered her one week of staying in the Hanbridge household with Andrew two summers ago. Mistress Hanbridge hadn't been exactly kind when Diana pulled out that unicorn and rode it around their garden. "Yeah… yeah, let's hope."

* * *

" _Metamorphie… Faciesse_!"

Akko gazed curiously as the white beam of magic was shot through the mouse and then it was engulfed before transforming into a lop rabbit in a puff of smoke and flash. Avery looked satisfied with her work and waited for Professor Badcock's critique.

The green-haired Professor looked over the mouse-transformed-rabbit. "Very nice indeed…" she muttered. "You have transformed not only the general appearance itself but you have changed its hair and eye color as well," She touched the rabbit's fur. "The mouse's stringy hair has changed to a smooth, silky texture. Now let's see if it still thinks of itself as a mouse or rabbit."

She took out her wand and whirled it and there came floating in a small slice of cheese and carrot. The rabbit looked at the two snacks and sniffed them as soon as they were in front of her. Akko was cocking her brow and gave a side-glance at Avery.

Her smile was now gone and she was biting her lip. Akko suggests that her hand behind her back was hiding her crossed fingers. Akko went back to the animal before it ultimately tackled the slice of cheese and fell down flat on the floor.

Akko heard Lotte sigh beside her. "Pity."

Professor Badcock seemed to be on the same page. She pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose. "Unfortunately, Miss Avery, the appearance isn't the only aspect you should change of your test subject. Take the example from your teammate, Miss Blair, earlier. She managed to change the mouse's natural instinct of scurrying into staying still as a lethargic cat as well as its usual posture.

"But, she hadn't changed its appearance so I shall grade you the same as her. B plus." Professor Badcock went back to her paper, tore it out and gave it to Avery.

She took it with a disappointed sigh. "Darn…"

Akko sweated and glanced at her teammates' papers. Lotte had gotten an A-. Of course, while she focused on summoning faeries, she wasn't exactly far off with transformation magic, so she managed to summon a capybara without much problem. Sucy had gotten a B. She reasoned out that she used plenty of animal's distinct characteristics (such as fur and eyeballs) as an ingredient for her potions so of course she would remember most of their details. Unfortunately, her bat had gotten berserk and accidentally attacked Chloe.

Akko's turn to transform a mouse was yet to begin and she felt her hands becoming sweaty. Professor Badcock was one of the stricter professors in Luna Nova and Akko hopes she was still in the running to be the class ace.

Speaking of ace… Akko glanced towards the back and still found Diana patting her mouse-turned-horse on the snout gently. Her paper with an A+ taunted Akko severely. The brunette gripped her wand tighter.

Nobody had once surpassed Diana and her snow-white stallion and nobody planned on doing it. Everyone else had summoned pretty mundane animals… Cats, birds, guinea pigs, the likes of a standard witch. Amanda had gotten close with her Beagle, along with Jasminka and her brown bear (why?) but they still couldn't get that same gasp from the crowd.

Well, if they couldn't then it has to be Akko who tops it. As the next witch finished producing her animal, which was a raven, Professor Badcock nodded at the list on her hand.

"All right. It seems everyone has now mastered a proper metamorphosis spell. Everyone but…" Akko froze when Professor Badcock's eyes locked onto her. "Atsuko Kagari."

Akko gulped and made her way into the center of the circle of witches, most of them about one or two meters away from the table where a standby mouse was waiting. As her boots clicked on the floorboards, Diana's horse whinnied from behind and Akko couldn't help but cringe.

She was now standing in front of the table. As Akko looked towards the critter in front of her, she pulled out her wand with care. She can't afford to make an embarrassment in this metamorphosis lesson. She may have gotten all of the A's in the written works but everyone had already known her for blowing her magical practices.

She steadied her footing and stared at the critter with such intensity, she might've burned holes through it. What should she transform it to? She had an idea of a cat as it _was_ the closest of an animal she held onto. Majou had been her birthday gift from her parents back when she was toddler so it wouldn't be too weird to produce the most common of familiars. Or perhaps she's being too unorigi—

"Ugh, c'mon," Akko suddenly hears a classmate behind her. She immediately recognized it as Mary from Avery's team. "It's just a simple metamorphosis spell. How hard is it to just picture an animal?"

Akko gritted her teeth. Just because she scored an A doesn't mean she had to run her mouth. Akko tilted her head just a bit to see Mary standing beside Blair, arms crossed and all and when the dark-haired Brit saw the brunette glancing coldly at her, her lips sealed tight.

It was a wrong turn though. Not only did Akko see the displeasing faces of those who badmouth her at a constant occasion, she apparently had a nice view of Diana and her stallion at the back of the class. Something curled inside Akko's stomach and once again, she felt envy and anger engulf her.

She'll surpass Diana, she'll surpass Diana, she'll surpass Diana and her stupid, talented as—

Akko aimed her wand towards the mouse. " _Metamorphie..._ _ **Faciesse**_!"

The brunette felt a tremor and heard a puff of smoke. She smiled and looked to see the mouse has turned into… a mouse exactly as it was before.

Akko furrowed her brows and stared at the critter incredulously. How!? She was sure she was picturing an animal… Well, sort of an animal… What kind though? Oh dear. She was so angry with Diana she hadn't focused at all! Perhaps that's why her spell hadn't affected the mouse? Oh no…

"Akko! Akko!" The brunette turned to see Sucy motioning to her ears and pointing at the windows beside them. Lotte looked amused. "Look."

Suddenly, Akko's inner instincts told her that in very seconds, she will encounter something majorly horrifying. She pursed her lips, took a quick breath and looked at the window.

She was still as the same as before, with brown hair, red eyes and… donkey ears.

 _Donkey ears_!?

' _Bloody Hell!?_ ' Akko gaped at her reflection and heard her classmates chortling behind her. "Wha-!" she yelped and touched them. Furry. Oh so furry and alien.

"Goodness!" Akko turned to Professor Badcock's shocked expression. "Miss Kagari, I can't believe you haven't learned the basics of a metamorphosis spell yet," she sighed and looked down to her clipboard. "You've made excellent essays and letters pertaining about the lesson whilst perfecting quizzes but you can't actually perform the spell itself."

In the final bit, Akko felt herself getting gutted in the stomach. "I'm—I'm sorry, Professor!" she bowed but then remembered this was Britain, not Japan. She stood up again and there were extra snickering. "I'll, um, try to perfect it—"

"Tonight." Akko widened her eyes. Professor Badcock wasn't missing a heartbeat. "You will perfect the spell tonight and once you can perform at least a proper physical transformation of a mouse into a hare, I can still repudiate your failing grade into a passing one."

Akko gaped before closing her mouth. She contemplated the offer. Ten hours. She's been given ten hours to perfect the spell. She could afford it. Anything to stop that F riding on her report card.

She was about to nod before Diana suddenly came up to the front, her horse probably turned back into a mouse and into the cage.

"Wait, Professor!" The heiress said and Akko stared at her. "Isn't there a party going on tonight? Like, we're having a welcome party for the Earl of Hanbridge. Isn't attendance mandatory?"

O-Oh, she's right. The welcome party for the Hanbridges. Akko almost forgot. She turned back to the green-haired professor but found her hard face unfaltering.

"She's not going as she will be excused," She turned her gaze from Diana then to Akko. "You will stay in your dorm room to master the spell until then. I will have Professor Chariot—" Akko's heart skipped a beat. "to chaperone your practice."

Prof…. _Professor Chariot_!? Akko could practically feel her face heat up. Professor Chariot will be the one who will overlook her practices. _Professor Chariot_! This will _not_ be a chance she's going to let go. She quickly straightened her back and nodded firmly. "Yes, Professor Badcock."

"Very well. I will expect tomorrow that your mouse will finally turn into a proper rabbit. Or donkey for that matter." With a wave of her wand, the cage of mice disappeared in a puff of a smoke along with Akko's ears.

She clapped her hands together once then twice. "Class dismissed."

* * *

For one thing, Diana was genuinely excited about the Hanbridges coming to Luna Nova. It was common knowledge for the Cavendishes to have a close relationship of that lineage of politicians so it would be odd if Diana hadn't felt anything in regards to this visit of theirs. After all, how often is it that her best friend since diapers is gonna come to Luna Nova!?

So for what it's worth, Diana isn't going to let this party be spoiled just because one witch isn't going to come to this party. Not the witch she planned on pointing out to Andrew. Not the witch who didn't have to suffer in this function hall. Not the witch who apparently had an hour to study with Professor Chariot about metamorphosis spells tonight. Not the witch who she definitely wanted to help with to help with said spells.

Not. Not. _Not_.

Diana slapped a hand to her temple and let it fall back down to her side slowly. Hannah was staring.

"Is everything alright, Diana?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's all good. It's just that…" Diana glanced at her side. "I'm not really excited about this party as I thought I would be."

Barbara shared the same forced smile. "Me neither. While I don't dislike that our dinner is gonna be more extra tonight, I don't like that we have to entertain some politicians instead of going straight to bed."

"Well, too bad then." Hannah suddenly called and then motioned on top of the stairs where Mistress Holbrooke was beginning to descend to the floor. "They're already here."

Most of the freshmen had been lined up before the stairs and one of the teams assigned at the base of the stairs were apparently them. Of course, not that Diana had any problems with this, she was the closest student here to the Hanbridges so it wouldn't be so weird. It's just that…

It just felt _annoying_ to see Andrew in anything outside of his pair of khaki slacks, loafers, shirt and sweater and the fact that she had to look up made it more annoying. There were always occasions he wore more 'aristoratic' fashion but Diana always found it irritating. Although, his usually upbeat grin on his face was still undeniably his and his green eyes practically shone against the chandelier lights so Diana supposes this Andrew wasn't entirely annoying.

In this visit, Andrew wore a light violet suit, an orange tie and some dark heels. Diana supposed Mistress Hanbridge forced him into the stuff so Diana just shrugged in her place. She heard gasps and gossips coming from the student body but all she could think of was if Paul had any more color outside of gray of his collection of suits.

Accompanying Paul were a pair of butlers Diana barely remembered as Nigel and Roger. And tailing them was Andrew and beside him was a blonde dude in a brown suit, whom she assumed might be Frank from Andrew's letter.

It was then when they were almost down to the stairs that Diana had caught Andrew's eye. He gave her a wink. Diana response was a wink of her own and when Andrew did the same to Barbara and Hannah, they just rolled their eyes.

These quiet cues just made the girls behind them go ballistic though.

Half an hour later, after introductions were made and the reason for the Hanbridge's were said, which is something about them being one of the biggest donors to this school, the witches were now free of their stations and are now around the function hall eating whatever delicacies there was available on the table.

The blue team didn't waste any time to go straight to the food. Since they've always met Andrew on a daily basis, they didn't really care if whether or not they should go up to the boy and say 'hi' to him face to face. They could just do that some other time after all.

Diana was helping herself to some crackers and fish eggs (hors-d'oeuvres, was it?) when she began to look where the teachers were scattered. Most of them were running in and out of the room to maintain something while fearies were working around the food like professionals. Diana wonders if there's anything she should do when she spotted Andrew being gathered around by a crowd of girls.

Diana smiled as she remembered the way she had met him back then. It was sort of the same as this, only they were in the Cavendish estate for a party. Andrew had been covered by girls their age and he looked so lost without his dad that Diana couldn't help but step in and save his sorry butt.

Too bad it brought up the idea in their families thought that Diana might've liked Andrew. Well, if anyone knew them well, they might've assumed they had been siblings except for their blood.

Diana heard a camera clicking to her left. The blue team looked over to the source of the sound and found Paul standing beside Professor Chariot with one of the butlers taking a picture. Chariot looked like she wanted to die.

"Heh," Barbara laughed dryly. "I'd try to help her but it's too risky."

Diana could only stare in disdain before realizing something. Wasn't Professor Chariot supposed to train with Akko tonight? Soon, her unimpressed face morphed into suspicion. Then what's Akko doing now? Professor Chariot was a famous witch so it wouldn't be weird for Paul to want to have a picture with her (same way with her aunt and mother) but Professor Chariot was loyal to her duties. She couldn't have ditched Akko, could she…?

As Diana stared at Professor Chariot (looking quite uncomfortable with the politician talking to her), she felt somebody was tapping on the back. She looked back to see the face that's been swarmed by girls earlier.

Andrew bared a grin. "Hey, Diana,"

"Andrew!" Diana greeted back and hugged the guy. He was getting taller. She let go quickly. "How you doing?"

Andrew looked over her shoulder. "Good evening to you too, Han, Barb!" The two just returned some thumbs-up. He turned to Diana with an energetic grin. "I'm doing great, actually! In fact, I was so excited about this visit that I even brought him in!" Andrew turned his back for a moment before introducing the blond dude in a brown suit. "Blue team, meet Frank!"

Diana beamed and quickly took out her hand. "My name's Diana Cavendish. You can call me Diana!"

Frank, who was getting out of Andrew's headlock, paused a bit and took her hand hesitantly. It was slightly sweaty. "Nice to meet you. I'm Frank Diskins, Andrew's classmate from Appleton."

"'Best friend'," Andrew corrected and pointed at him. "He's a fan of witches, by the way,"

Frank glared at him. "Not."

"Whatever, I still stan what you wrote on your notebook."

Diana looked back and forth between the two boys, grinning as they bickered about whether did Frank wrote something about him having a thing for girls in robes or not. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw Mistress Holbrooke approaching them.

"So I see you boys are enjoying the party?" She suddenly spoke up and the boys stopped arguing and turned to the headmaster.

Andrew nodded. "Yep! It's great seeing girls instead of boys every now and then!" Holbrooke rose a brow. Diana elbowed him on the ribs and he restrained doubling over. "I-I mean, really, everything there at Appleton is so serious with debates and all and it's nice to see the complete opposite here in Luna Nova where everyone is just so slack with work. I'm happy you accepted us here!"

Diana sighed in relief as Mistress Holbrooke's suspicious glint behind her glasses disappeared. "Well, we're happy to have you here too, Lord Hanbridge. The performances by the senior witches are about to start, by the way."

"Oh, uh, really?" Frank spoke up from his spot. The boys looked at each other. "I was kind of hoping we could see the whole school."

Andrew nodded. "Yeah, kinda. Can we, um—"

"A tour of Luna Nova?" Mistress Holbrooke actually looked surprised. "Why, alright then. Miss Cavendish,"

The heiress perked up. "Yes?"

"Would you be so kind as to be these gentlemen's tour guide?"

A t-tour guide? Diana widened her eyes. "Uhh…" She glanced at the two boys. While she was familiar with the school, she wasn't very sure if she could give enough information to them. She wasn't so informative unlike Akko…

At the thought of the girl, Diana's face dropped a little. However, from the corner of her eye, she saw Andrew giving her a thumbs-up. She perked up a bit at his smile. She nodded at Holbrooke. "Sure."

"It's settled. Miss Parker, Miss England, you two come with me as I have separate assignments for you two at the moment," she turned to the boys and bowed. "Lord Hanbridge, Lord Diskins, please enjoy your visit." With a swift turn of her heel, she started going to the opposite direction, beckoning Hannah Barbara to follow her.

Barbara nudged Diana as she passed her. "Don't make a mess out there." Then they both disappeared in the crowd.

* * *

Akko was patiently waiting for Professor Chariot inside her dormitory.

Okay, maybe not _patiently_ but honestly… Akko looked towards her clock at her desk. It was already 7:30. Since the event for this welcome party had more than enough staff to help around and as a witch who was a master of metamorphosis spells, Professor Chariot had agreed to tutor Akko.

When Akko had approached the professor today, Chariot had instructed her to wait for her until seven to start their tutoring and smiled at her. The brunette almost died.

But right now…

Akko started to tap her left foot, staring intensely at the mouse in the cage in front of her. Her wand waited impatiently on her hand and she couldn't help but groan after minutes passed. She wiped her out of her eyes and leaned back on her bed with a defeated sigh.

She went back to her clock. 7:49. Pain panged her heart and she shifted her position in bed to cover her face.

Professor Chariot… isn't coming. Is she? Akko buried her nose in her pillow and sighed again. Ugh. This night was hopeless.

Of course Professor Chariot would be busy with other stuff. Why would she waste time on tutoring a student, anyway? Did she just agree to make feel better or…? Oh, Akko doesn't know!

Akko groaned and looked up from her pillow. "Grah! This is so irritating!" She said to no one in particular and threw her pillow down to the mattress. It bounced off harmlessly and she glared at it. She grabbed it again, berating herself before a squeak of the mouse stopped her from pummeling the pillow to the ground.

She turned to it and found it staring at her with beady, curious eyes. Akko pinched her face before putting the pillow down. She took her wand and held it in front of the cage. "Alright," she said, her face full of resolute.

She was just going to help herself, isn't she?

Akko lifted her arm up into the ceiling. " _Metamorphie…_ "

And she plummet the wand down with ferocity. " _FACIESSE_!"

 _Poof!_

Smoke dusted around Akko's head and she felt like crying. Never in her entire life had she felt such a big of a loser.

 _Ever_.

She lifted up her head and perked her new bunny ears around, tears brimming at the corner of her eyes as they searched around the mouse for any given hints that her magic hadn't just affected her and her alone. Alas, only the spell seemed to affect her poor self and Akko wanted nothing more than to die.

She grumbled and sniffled a bit, seeing her face growing hot. God, why was she being such a crybaby!? Not everything was horrible today. She wiped her face with her sleeve. Yes, it was not a bad day. Just a day with disappointing outcomes. Yes, that's it.

Akko took a deep breath and steadied herself in her bed before laying back on it. "… Am… Am I just a washout?" she asked no one. "I'm starting to lose confidence at this point… Middle school was far tamer in handling my emotions than this."

She sat up and looked down to the bunk bed she and Lotte were sharing and took out her Shiny Chariot themed trading card binder out of its spot. Though a lot of her classmates knew of her respect for the redheaded professor, only Lotte and Sucy had known that that respect was more than just that.

She began to flip through the book and on the last page, her rarest card stood there gleaming. It was one of the only cards to actually feature Shiny Chariot in it; at least, an accurate representation of her, anyway. Shiny Chariot was dressed in her iconic dress of red skirt and white top, with a cape around her shoulders and the Shiny Rod gleaming in her hand.

She had prized the card like a trophy since her elementary school days, especially back when Dad bought her for it when he came back from work on an autumn day. Akko took it out of its page and looked over at it.

Still in perfect condition. She smiled a bit, proud of her work but the face of her idol only bore sadness as she remembers that she had not arrived here in her dorm yet. Akko looked back to the clock. 8: 04.

Professor Chariot was officially late for her tutoring by one hour and four minutes. And it discouraged Akko so. The brunette went ahead and placed the card back in its place. She sighed and closed the book.

But as she stared at the flipping pages, a card caught her eye. She quickly opened them again and began to turn over pages. She had seen it near the end, and as she had arranged the cards from the most common to the rarest, it couldn't have been one of those rarer cards that had a 35% of getting from a standard card shop.

She stopped at the page and stared at the card where Arcas the Bear had been drawn underneath a floating fountain.

 _The Fountain of Polaris_.

A sudden idea dinged into her mind she walked up to her bookshelf and took out her astrologic history book. After finding its page on the table of contents, she finally found the Fountain of Polaris under her finger.

'The Fountain of Polaris gives the hidden magic of the stars to witches of those who are worthy of its light and posses great radiance. This particular fountain is hidden in the great school of Luna Nova Academy. Those who seek it shall enter through the north building and go through the Big Dipper Arch.'

Akko scrutinized her notes and then looked over to her card. "Hidden radiance…" she murmured aloud.

A witch of hidden radiance… Could… Could she be a witch of such feat…? Maybe if she finds it, she could know.

She shook her head. No. She won't go around looking for the Fountain of Polaris. No way. Out of the question.

Temptation handed Akko a migraine and the brunette gritted her teeth. She smacked her head with the heel of her hand. ' _Stop being irrational, Atsuko!_ ' she thought to herself and placed the book down. ' _You have to work on your project. Not this nonsense._ '

But as she went back to her mouse, its displeasing black eyes bore into her and she felt like she was being mocked. Imagine that! She, the girl who everybody knew to have been the first to ace Luna Nova's entrance exam, was being mocked by the critter in a cage that was bound to turn into a rabbit tonight!

' _And,_ ' Akko thought miserably. ' _That seemed more likely than me perfecting the metamorphosis spell soon._ '

Akko decided to give herself fifteen minutes more to this self-berate of hers before starting on her project. While it was unwise to waste time, sometimes indulging to your own deadly thoughts just seemed to be inevitable and Akko would just accept whatever fate has thrown at her before throwing it back.

And so, with a figure of defeat, Akko goes to the one and only window of the red team dorm and she opens it with a creak.

Luna Nova looked dark. Akko whipped her head to the windows next to her and as expected, there was no light, unlike hers. The brunette frowned and crossed her arms over the boards. She stared at the stars. They were bright. Most especially the Little Dipper.

Then the breeze picked up. Akko perked up a bit, feeling a bit cold, and she started to back up when—

 _Swoosh!_

The wind picked up her Arcas card and flew away with it.

Akko's jaw dropped to the floor as she sees it becoming tinier by the second before the wind ultimately waned down and the card dropped somewhere… near the laboratory buildings.

Before the brunette knew it, she burst through her dorm door and sped down the hall to retrieve it.

* * *

"And these are the test rooms. It's usually where we do our projects like summoning things and making potions." Diana explained as they wandered through the halls, near the the northern part of Luna Nova.

Andrew marveled at the large marble columns supporting the top floors. The moonlight shined against them and the brunet couldn't help but shift his gaze from the classrooms and at the stars.

Since he spends most of his time in the city, he seldom sees them shining this bright. ' _Must've been nice to live in the suburbs._ ' He thought idly before he heard Frank.

"So your laboratories?" Frank remarks as Diana motioned towards the rooms to their left.

"Kinda. Though the actual laboratories are over there," Diana replied and pointed towards the rooms opposite of them, where from their windows cauldrons could be seen in front of chairs and desks.

Andrew whistled. "Do you think we could make something explode in there, Di?" he asked with a grin. Though he wasn't exactly serious. Dad would kill him if he hears a whiff of a burning laboratory caused by them.

Diana chuckled. "It's meant for explosions, Andrew. The surrounding walls are fortified by magic so it can't damage anything outside of the room. Me and the other freshies use them and we're always guarded by either a professor or a couple of faeries so explosions are rare. But there was that one time…"

Andrew lifted his head up when she trailed off. Diana stared at the rooms with a gloomy face. Weird. It's like she was looking at it as if she was remembering something. Could Diana have done something in that room and got in trouble? Diana was good at causing some explosions herself, both accidentally and purposely so maybe she just has some bad memories?

They turned to a corner and the halls were beginning to darken.

Maybe. He could take Louis's example when he was punished for his magazine. Andrew smiled at the memory before he felt the breeze picking up. He paused for a while and he shivered. Brr. It's cold.

 _Swip!_

Andrew paused. What was that? The brunet tilted his head a bit to the back and found a piece of paper flying by and landing on the hallway. ' _Oh_ ,' he thought idly and was about to walk to Frank and Diana's direction before realizing, ' _Wait._ ' He went back to the paper and as he wet closer, it wasn't a paper at all but a card.

It was a blue one with gold outlines, and a picture of polar bear was drawn on its front with Chinese or something similar to it written underneath. Andrew quickly recognized it as a Shiny Chariot trading card.

Huh. This brings back memories. Andrew picked the card up and held it with a nostalgic smile. He remembers playing them with Diana when they were kids before she abruptly stopped bringing them over. Up until now, Andrew still recognizes it as a card that was usually in his hand when they played.

Something about a Fountain? Yeah, something similar to that. Polar… Polar bear? No. He can't really put his finger on what this card's name was but the real question here is who exactly owns this? And why is it in a foreign language?

"Eep!"

Andrew lifted his head up and looked over to the hallways. What was that? Andrew looked around, behind him, left and right and back to his front. He scrutinized the halls, looking into the moonlit area before his eye caught a shadow hiding behind a corner.

He narrowed his eyes and began to approach it quietly, placing the card in his pocket. As he came nearer, he saw the figures perking up again. He paused, going stiff as stone before resuming when they slowly bent down. And With careful reflex, he grabbed them.

Then he heard a scream.

* * *

 **a/n:**

 **Sorry to everyone who expected for me to proceed from episode 2 to episode 3. But as I had said, this will just be a series of shots and things that I wanted to write so you guys better yet expect that I can't really follow the canon.**

 **Yes, I am indeed unoriginal as fuck.**

 **But hey, if you guys still like this au and you have some ideas on how to precede things, you guys can make your own fic for this AU. Either way, I don't mind.**

 **Big thanks to ManedBlackWolf for beta-reading this! I owe you a lot! Cheers to your maned wolves or... something.**


	6. Chapter 6

Akko yelped in pain as she felt her bunny ears being pulled from behind. "AAHH!" She screamed and jumped away. Even though it was only an illusion, it still hurt. Backing up to the opposite wall, she took out her wand and readied her glare to the person who pulled her ear. "Hey—!"

Oh.

Oh, oh… wow.

The boy who Akko assumes must be the one who pulled them stepped back and blinked his green eyes at her. "Oh, I'm sorry!" He apologized. "Did, did that hurt?"

'Well, yeah, what would you feel if your magically transformed ears were suddenly yanked from behind?' was what Akko wanted to say but she could only stare at him as she felt her face turning red.

He… he was cute. Kind of. With his dark-brown hair that was neatly brushed back, and a pointed, handsome face with soft, bright green eyes like emeralds. He wore an elegant suit and from what she could deduce, he could be no more than seventeen. When he stood up fully, she realized he was the tallest teenager Akko has met.

Akko realized she was staring and not answering. "Oh, uhh…" she quickly stood up on her own and patted her dirtied skirt. "No, uh, it—it didn't. It's fine." She avoided his gaze and awkwardly looked over to her side, placing back a stray hair behind her ear only for it to fall down again due to the ears being on top of her head.

"Oh, thank goodness," the boy breathed and Akko glanced at him. His smile was _ridiculously_ cute. "Sorry for frightening you. I just thought I saw someone suspicious."

The brunette told herself to stop fidgeting like some schoolgirl. "'Suspicious'?" Akko echoed and looked at him. He was staring at her ears and she can't help but feel a little bit self-conscious. "Why would you think—"

He grabbed her ears again.

"AHHH!" Akko yelped and smacked his hand away. "Stop that!" she told him but then saw his shocked face. She was about to apologize before he said it first.

"Oh, uh, sorry! It's just that…" He glanced at her face (which she turned red at) and then at her perking ears. "Are those real?"

For moment, Akko paused before she sighed, stopped flushing, and brushed the ears back. "Of course they're not real. However, they're mine. They're illusions from a wrong metamorphosis spell." She explained as the ears stood straight up again.

"Illusions? So you're a witch, then?"

Akko looked at him with brows raised. "Is… is it not obvious?" she asked and held the hem of her skirt.

The boy stayed transfixed on the top of her head for two seconds before blinking and replying. "Oh, oh! Yeah, it's totally obvious!" Akko raised a brow at him, having a feeling that he was lying but then he continued. "Wait… you said those were from a wrong metamorphosis spell…"

Akko stiffened.

"Did someone do that to you?" He asked a tad too innocently and Akko felt her eye twitch.

"W… Well, no— not really, but you see—"

"You inflicted it on yourself?"

"Guh!" Akko flinched, shocked that he had come to that conclusion so quickly, but knowing there was no point in lying, she sighed again. "Huff, yes, I inflicted on myself," she told him begrudgingly, wondering why on earth she was sharing this to this boy here in Luna Nova. "But for your information, this is—"

Wait.

 _Boy in Luna Nova?_

Akko turned to him, her eyes flaring violently as she had realized the wrong in the situation far too late. "Hold on, why are _you_ interrogating _me_?! Moreover, who are you to get inside this all-girls academy!?"

"Oh, that's right!" The boy perked up after her question, seemingly unaffected by her rage. He motioned to himself with a soft smile. "I haven't really introduced myself, have I? I'm Andrew Hanbridge. You?"

Akko froze again. And as she did, his name bounced around her head like a ball in a trampoline-ridden room.

' _Han… Hanbridge!?'_

The brunette nearly lost her composure and she felt as if an invisible bin was thrown at her face. "Ha-Hanbridge," she repeated as she slowly turned to him and Andrew nodded.

Akko felt embarrassed. "I see now," she murmured and coughed into her fist, utterly embarrassed that she had just showed the son of Paul Hanbridge in her worst of fashions. "I apologize for being very rude, Mr. Hanbridge." She said sincerely and tipped her rabbit ear-ridden head.

Will they ever have a chance to meet again, she is sure Andrew would only remember her as the strange girl with rabbit ears begotten by a rotten spell lurking around in Luna Nova at 8 in the evening.

The mere thought of that made Akko want to die. _'And this day couldn't get any worse.'_

"Oh, don't worry! The school didn't expect me to go out of the party anyway so I'm not surprised why _you_ were suspicious," Andrew said with a perky smile. "And you? What's your name?"

"Atsuko Kagari," Akko said almost automatically but then she remembered Lotte's comment about her name being a mouthful. "But, ah… you may call Akko instead."

"'Akko'?" Andrew blinked. "You're Asian?"

If her looks didn't already tell him. Maybe Andrew was dafter than she thought but Akko knew better than to think ill of others.

Instead, she nodded. "Yes, I'm Japanese," she replied. Then she turned serious as at the back of her mind made her remember what she came here in the hallways in the first place. "Now, pardon me, Mr. Hanbridge—"

"Call me Andrew,"

"… Wha—"

" _An-drew_ ," Andrew drawled as he pointed at his face. The brunet stepped nearer and Akko felt her face going red. "Don't call me any of those 'sir' or 'Lord' things, okay? Honestly it makes feel like I'm older than I should be! Alright, Akko?"

' _This again_ ,' Akko thought. Though she was able to feel a lot less awkward with people using her childhood nickname to this point, she still can't stop feeling a bit uncomfortable. And to the fact that it was a _boy_ , she felt even more awkward than when Lotte and Sucy started calling her that.

"Okay…" By her promise, Andrew smiled and backed off. Akko sighed in relief and her heart stopped bouncing in her chest. "As I was saying," she continued but her eyes refused to greet his. "Have you seen a card around here by any chance?

"It's purple with a drawing of a polar bear. It has sort of a fountain behind and it says 'Fountain of Polaris'," she explained as she gazed around the floors to see if there were any traces of her card.

When Akko realized that the card she was speaking of was in Japanese and was about to correct her mistake, Andrew had abruptly answered, "Oh, you mean this?"

Akko's head whipped her back to Andrew and found him holding the very same card she had been looking for. It had a bit of dirt on but at the sight of the card, relief washed over the brunette. At last, she didn't need to worry about one of her almost-complete collection of cards being taken away.

She smiled and breathed. "Yes, that one." She said and walked over to take it. "Thank you for picking it up—"

"Ah!"

Akko widened her eyes and stared at Andrew incredulously. He pulled the card away from her and held it up above his head, which was might as well be two feet above Akko.

Akko blinked up at him, feeling irked and losing patience. "Um, may I have that back now—"

"You said the Fountain of Polaris, right?" asked Andrew as he stared at Akko with his pair of glimmering green eyes.

Akko felt exposed underneath them. "Y-Yes. What about it?"

"Well, a friend of mine told me that that fountain was found in this school. I just remembered it now!" He chirped excitedly. "Tell me, is it true?" He asked, stars forming in his eyes, not unlike in the way Diana had apparently looked at her with back before the event at the courtyard and the statue.

The resemblance made Akko's eye twitch in annoyance but decides to answer politely anyway. She assumes being civilized might as well be better than getting off the wrong foot with a son of a politician.

"Yes, it's true. The Fountain of Polaris is indeed located here in Luna Nova Academy. Has always been, in fact, for 1000 years, back when one of the old Nine Witches had created it for witches who wish to see their potential." Akko huffed and began to reach for the card. "Now, if I may-"

"So it is!" Andrew cried with excitement and took the card away from her reach again. "God, I can't believe I just remembered that," he snapped his fingers and turned to Akko, excitement glinting against his eyes. "Can we go there?"

"No." Akko's response was immediate, feeling herself getting closer and closer to her threshold with the boy.

"Aw, what! C'mon, pleaseee?" The brunet clapped both of his hands in front of him and pouted. "Please? _Pretty please_? Please, I _really_ wanna see. Just _one_ tiny peek."

 _H-How low!_ Akko thought as his face glowed in a way that made her weak in the knees. Using his looks to get the way he wants!? As expected of a rich son of a git! Akko clenched her fist. She was _not_ going to pet-talked.

"No, Mr. Hanbridge," Akko said sharply. He dropped his face, looking annoyed. "You may be a son of one of the most influential politicians this academy has but I'm afraid you don't have the right nor permission to go and see the Fountain of Polaris. Even then, those who seek it have to be witches who want to see their true potential so it can't be unlocked just for sight-seeing."

The argument seemed to annoy Andrew and he looked up in wonder. It took about a moment or two until he said, "Well… If I can't go there…" He began to lift her card. Akko's face lifted. "Then I'll just keep this thing in memory of it." He swiftly turned his heel and stalked for the next hallway.

Akko hung her mouth open. She sped up to him and stepped in front of him. "Wait, what!? You can't just do that!"

Andrew smirked at her glare. "Oh, I can. After all, I have to get back to the party now." He pulled back his left cuff and Akko saw his silver Rolex. "I need to catch up with the others."

'Others'? Suddenly, Akko turned suspiciously at Andrew and the gears clicked.

"So how about you wait until I show _this_ ," Andrew showed the card. "To Headmaster Holbrooke and tell _her_ ," He was grinning now. "That a _hexed student_ had been running around Luna Nova outside of the party. Looking for a _trading card_."

Akko gaped as her eyes switched from the card to Andrew's smug look. She contemplated and clenched her teeth. She is so close in losing her calm to this guy, handsome or no. But as she studied his smirk further, she realized snapping was going to serve her nothing.

She stopped digging her fingers to her palms and cleared her mind. With a deep breath, she faced him again. "Alright. What do you want, Handbridge?"

Andrew beamed at his victory. He tucked the card in his blazer. "Okay," he started and pointed up his index. "First, call me Andrew."

"Fine," Akko sighed. He looked at her expectantly. She rolled her eyes. "… Andrew."

He grinned in satisfaction. "Neat!" he cried and lifted his middle. "And second, I want to see the Fountain of Polaris."

Akko twitched her eye and scoffed, turning away from him and crossing her arms. "Hadn't I told you? The Fountain of Polaris can only be unlocked by a witch who seeks their potential."

"Well, you're a witch, aren't you?" argued Andrew, "You could go look for it! And while I get to see it, you get to see how good you are at magic! It's a win-win for the both of us."

Akko turned to him with a surprised gaze. But then she scowled again. ' _Tempting, Hanbridge, tempting_.'

"I'm sorry," said Akko, "But I believe you had a party to attend to, Andrew, and I'm not looking for it right now so it's better if you just hand me back my card—"

"Then I'll just be off and tell Holbrooke then!" Andrew grinned at his retort.

Akko's face twitched in annoyance. He's using the same argument and it irked her to no end. But still, even if this boy had the blood of a lawyer, Akko still had more defenses. She pointed up a finger at him. "I'll have you know, I have a clean record so convincing Professor Holbrooke of my deed—"

"You literally have rabbit-ears! You could chase me to the party and you'll still get exposed! Unless…" Andrew bent down to her level with his hand on his knees and suddenly, Akko felt offended. "You know how to reverse the spell."

Red eyes fought with green and they stared at each for moment. Akko felt like she was being tested. This boy was getting bolder and bolder and though his face still made Akko flush, it was nothing but annoying at all at this point.

Her eyes flit towards the spot where she assumed the card might be and the image of shiny Chariot appeared at the back of her mind.

' _Believe!'_ her distant voice told her.

Akko bit her lip and turned back to Andrew's waiting face. Finally, she took out her wand. "Yes, I do know." She said with clenched teeth and a hoarse voice.

Andrew widened his eyes and then, as if he were an excited dog, stepped back with a smile. "Really? Prove it!"

These were taunting words and Akko knew it. He and Diana were far too similar for comfort and Akko felt like she was tightening the loop around her neck. However, if there was a slightest chance, if this spell goes right…

Akko flicked her wand and with slight reluctance, she motioned it to her front. "Okay…"

With a deep breath, she shouted, "Metamorphie… _Faciesse_!"

 _ **POOF!**_

* * *

When Paul Hanbridge had finally let her go, Professor Badcock told Chariot to go and proceed to the red team's dorm for Atsuko's tutoring while she deals with the party for now.

Chariot had never been ever so relieved and grateful to her old professors.

As the redhead wandered towards the entrance, she glanced over to the table for refreshments and found the remaining members of the red team, Lotte Yansson and Sucy Manbavaran, looking rather lethargic.

While they were their own persons themselves, whenever Chariot sees at least one member of the red team missing, they would always look uncomfortably incomplete. That's to be expected, of course, as seeing the red team with a missing member would be a very rare sight after seeing them most of the time with each other.

But knowing the reason why one of them was not here, she told herself to just go and make haste to the dormitories.

Dear Merlin, if she were this late with a show of hers, her managers would have her head. Of course, one of the reasons why she even retired from her decade-long career was them but what one of the serious reasons, well; perhaps what Paul had asked for her earlier would be a good example.

She shuddered and then started for the dormitories, whipping out her wand and summoning the books needed for mastery on metamorphosis spells.

But as she got nearer to the assigned room of the red team, Chariot felt herself going slower.

She was hesitating to enter a student's dorm room. _Hesitating_. Out of all the adventures she went, approaching a first-year's dormitory was what could make her waver from advancing further. After years and years of magic.

Of course, not that this was the first time she was ever indecisive, but for now, she had a particularly good reason on why she was daunted in the first place.

But she told herself to steel up and _go inside already_. It's been almost two hours since the assigned time and Atsuko was probably waiting to death for her by now.

Feeling she had already slipped up enough, she gathered courage and called out to the door. She knocked thrice, grabbed the door handle to the dorm and opened it gently, greeting the room with a smile.

"Good evening, Miss Kagari! Pardon me for being la-" Chariot exclaimed happily but as she looked into the room, she found the expected mouse in the cage but no brunette of a witch. "Miss Kagari?"

Chariot raised a brow and looked around the dorm, from the clean side of a single bed to the bunker with posters. She stepped inside.

The red team dorm, as expected, was clean but not exactly as organized as she thought. The single bed to the right was tidy and white, almost empty of things except for a book and quill sitting on its middle. The left wasn't exactly cleaner because of two occupying it but the top bunk definitely looked a more disheveled. Its shelves were lined with series of books she could only remember as a series that Chariot had been offered to be a star of. Aside from books, there were figurines and some other miscellaneous ornaments.

But it was the bottom bunk that really made Chariot stare. The bed was tucked neatly but the comforter looked like it was sat on by someone, who she assumed must be Atsuko, with the rat cage facing towards it. However, the cleanliness of it wasn't what caught her eye but the large poster of her oldest shows that hung around the wall.

Chariot stepped in and let the door close itself. Her earlier series of Extravaganzas, back in her first year of acting and before she had exploded in popularity. At the sight of it, her heart lurched. Chariot covered her mouth with her hand and turned away.

But as Chariot continued to look around the dorm, she saw the Shiny Rod leaning against one of the post of the bed and the redhead stiffened. The _real_ Shiny Rod. Not the one that was manufactured back in her office but the actual Shiny Rod that was blessed with the power of the stars above.

She looked away again, memories of past swimming all over thoughts. She didn't want to turn back to either the poster or the wand.

However, those weren't the only Shiny Chariot-related item in the dorm. At least, not in a serious way that made her nostalgic. As the redhead went nearer to the bed, an open binder lay on the pillow. Narrowing her eyes to it, it dawned on Chariot; that wasn't just a binder, but her Shiny-themed trading card binder.

Chariot sat on the bed and took it carefully. The pages were full of her trading cards. She can't believe this girl had _collected_ them. At the bit, Chariot smiled and treaded through the pages. From her oldest editions to the latest, Miss Kagari had apparently collected the lot of them. Mostly in Japanese, but still, an impressive feat.

As she went nearer to the end, not one single card slot was wasted until she came upon a page that had an empty one. Chariot raised a brow and stared at the other cards. There were four copies of the Fountain of Polaris card around it so Chariot assumed it was a same copy as well.

"The Fountain of Polaris…" Chariot whispered aloud, knowing this was one of the rarer cards she had written about from Luna Nova that she had discovered. Concern began to grow in her chest and she flipped over the next pages to see they were all filled with as well.

Atsuko must've taken it. But why… Chariot closed the binder and placed down the bed along with her metamorphosis book. She walked over to Atsuko's desk, a clean and organized one with a delicate quill on the side, and found the history book of Luna Nova open along with the window, the breeze entering the room with its cold haste.

Then Chariot saw the drawing of the Fountain of Polaris with its paragraph underneath, highlighted by a pen.

Strings began to connect and Chariot widened her eyes.

 _Oh no._

* * *

Andrew was having a ball. Though he usually hung out with Diana and had experienced all sorts of troubles, all he ever got were a bunch of demonstrations of spells and old junk that she just scooped up from her family's manor that made them running for their lives. But now that he was in Luna Nova, he was _excited_.

Since he entered, he expected sort of festival of magic around. However, the party didn't really let off of that 'magic' so he was a tad disappointed. But man! The tour was all he needed to get a kick out of it! And he certainly didn't mind the donkey ears. After all, Diana had given him way worse back in the old days.

When Andrew saw a tree with a twisted trunk, a species Diana hadn't told him about yet, he tapped Akko on the back and threw his thumb at it. "Hey, what's that?"

"Hm?" Akko turned to where he was pointing. "Oh, that's a Whomping Willow. It's a magical tree that will attack things that any of its branches can reach so I advise to not provoke it." She explained matter-of-factly and turned back to look over the forest to see if there were any North Buildings around.

Since the absence of Diana, Akko had been the one who had answered his questions for the last fifteen minutes now. From their journey from the laboratories to this more deserted and northern part of the academy, Andrew had asked questions of what interested him and Akko answered it as quick and informative as possible.

And to be honest, he actually learned a lot more than necessary. About the numerous plants that were here on the outside. Or the several beat up buildings that Akko explained were for demolition but are now used by their alchemy teacher to collect ingredients that grow on it. Or about how those buildings were a wreck due to dragon attacks nearly a decade ago and how those magical wild petunias were a result of those attacks due to enforced magic.

Or how that Whomping Willow was dangerous.

' _Or so Akko says_ ,' thought Andrew mischievously.

Without Akko's eye, Andrew smiled and took a rock from the ground. They were, what, ten meters away from it at least so they were far away enough. With great vigor Andrew threw a rock at the Whomping Willow.

Akko had apparently caught him doing it. "Wha-!" The rock hit the base of the tree's trunk. "What are you doing!? I told you not—Oh no."

Andrew stared at the tree curiously as its branches were extended longer than what he presumed. The two stayed silent for a while, Akko gripping his blazer, ready to jerk him away before the Whomping Willow's branches stretched out and aimed for them.

Andrew was quick to jump away and began to smile as the adrenaline pumped in. Before he got to the forest, a branch stabbed in front of him, barely a feet away. He grunted and jumped over it. Akko yelped in surprise as one bough nearly swiped her but she scurried off fast.

They made a run for it, away and away from the tree's roaming branches that had took a swipe at a large block of debris that remained from the old buildings. The teens reached trees.

When they jumped over a bush to hide, Andrew poked his head up and found the Whomping Willow stretching back its boughs, content with the rubble it held. Andrew stared, amazed by its strength and became even more amazed when the branches practically crushed the debris into rocks. He'd seen magical plants before but this kind? Never before.

He couldn't keep his exclamation to himself. "COOL!"

The Whomping Willow's branches froze and they all turned to their direction. Andrew felt Akko punching his arm before they made haste as the branches tried to reach them in vain. They ran as fast as their feet could carry them, with Akko taking the lead, zigzagging through the trees and rocks like a track star.

While Andrew was laughing stupidly and trying to catch up with the girl, Akko shouted over her shoulder, "Please, could you not probe anything anymore!? This is no laughing matter!"

"Sorry!" said Andrew as they reached a clearing.

They stopped to catch their breaths and Andrew drew as much air as he needed, placing his hands on his knees. His heart couldn't stop racing in its chest as he smiled widely. When was the last time Andrew had this much fun? Not since he entered Appleton, that's for sure.

In front of him, he saw Akko standing up, barely puffing out shallow breaths like the chase hadn't bothered her at all. Andrew stood up properly himself and made an effort to pat down his slacks. The chase was exhilarating. He walked up towards Akko, who was standing by the slope and standing like a rock.

"Hey, nice work in dodging those bran… ches…" Andrew trailed off when he looked towards where Akko was looking.

There stood beyond the slope where they were standing was a large, old, castle-like building with pillars that looked similar to the ones in the main castle. It wasn't as grand and big as the one up at front but it looked… he doesn't know, old maybe? But powerful. Like the castle had been up for centuries, enduring things and outliving them. Andrew assumed this must be one of the first buildings here in Luna Nova.

Without a word, Akko stepped down the slope and took out her wand, sliding down the grass. Andrew followed her quickly and they treaded towards the entrance of the old castle.

Up close, Andrew could see the cracks on the battered-looking bricks, vines slithering across the cracked windows and weeds growing almost a foot tall. But it looked study and strong still.

"Whoaaa…" He drawled, looking around.

"This must be it. The North Building." Akko suddenly said, and Andrew thinks she might've said it to herself more than him. The witch started for the entrance and murmured a light spell which her wand flickered in doing. Andrew quickly followed her. "The Fountain of Polaris is just beyond here."

As they strolled into the rock-ridden halls, moonlight poured down from the caved-in roofs, with grass peaking out of the cracks on the floor. Dirt had covered the pillars, making it look like it hadn't had a single soul cleaned it for years. There was only one hall that extended towards the end so they kept going there.

When they reached a shallow but forked ways, they took the middle and reached a massive room that, as Andrew presumed, must've been the main hall. More than half of its roof was completely blown off. There, at the end of the room was a pair of old-looking oak doors that were at least ten-feet tall, with a gold plate on its center with bars of wood locking it.

Andrew saw Akko's ears perk up. "This must be it…!" she muttered and walked to its direction.

As they went nearer, Andrew looked up excitedly at the doors. Beyond these was the Fountain of Polaris. He's been aching for something magical in the past months and now he can finally see something great! Andrew went to the golden plate and looked over at it.

A bunch of words and an emblem. Andrew touched it, creasing the spot between his brows as he studied it. French? No... Then it dawned on him. "Latin?"

Akko walked over and examined it. She hummed and said, "Seems like it. Though I can't understand very well…"

"'Waken not the sleeping Arcas'." Andrew read aloud.

He glanced at Akko and found her adoring a shocked expression. "You can read Latin?" asked Akko.

Andrew smiled sheepishly and went back to the plate. "Just some extra classes I had from middle school. It's a dead language but Dad told me learn it anyway," he said and continued, "'As the protector of Polaris, Arcas will attack all those who will approach the fountain'."

Andrew looked at the plate with a bored look. Pssh. He went away and stood a few meters away from the door and let Akko stare at it.

She placed her hand on her chin. "Is that what it says?" As Akko hummed, Andrew stretched his arms. After a moment of silence, Akko said, "We should probably avoid reckless entering—"

The brunet made a run for it with his shoulder and smashed through the wooden door and, surprisingly, it shattered upon impact. "Ack!" Andrew landed on a pile of woods on the other side of the door, his shoulder aching like it had been smacked against a rock but fortunately, it wasn't broken.

Dust spread all around them. Andrew couldn't see the girl's face for a moment before it subsided.

Akko had her jaw to the floor, eyes wide with terror before twisting it to anger. " _What are you doing, you idiot_!?" she screamed, throwing her hands in the air.

Andrew raised a brow. "Uh, getting an easier way to break in?"

" _This is a valuable building of Luna Nova!_ You can't just smash through it, especially an entrance towards the Fountain of Polaris!" Akko shouted as her face flushed an angry red.

… Shit, she's right.

As Andrew realized he just made fifty-thousand pound wreckage in Luna Nova, he sheepishly looked away from her angry glare and slowly got up. He laughed awkwardly. "Ahaha… Sorry. Got a tad excited."

He turned away, feeling Akko eyes burning at his back and he busied himself cleaning his slacks and blazer before feeling another pair on him. This time, it didn't came from the back.

Bit by bit, he looked up and beyond the shadows to his front, he saw a pair of tall, glowing eyes staring into his direction.

Andrew could only see a silhouette of a massive monster, and he froze in terror as a bear, a polar bear, with a gold star-shaped symbol above its snout, stepped out of the shadows and loomed over Andrew. It was at easily as big as the wooden doors he crushed.

It sniffed at him and then, realizing it was not a scent it was familiar with, almost blew Andrew away with its roar. When it stopped, Andrew's hair had been in all directions, feeling his donkey ears lowering in fear and all he could do was just gape.

Arcas the bear showed his fangs in front of him, all pearly and white, and could definitely kill. But before it could show off anymore, Andrew felt Akko pulling his arm from behind and with surprising strength, jerked him away and they ran off once more.

"Run away!" Akko shouted as she held his wrist as tightly as she could, Andrew hot on her heels.

* * *

Professor Chariot sped towards the north building of Luna Nova as fast as she could on her broom.

Miss Kagari was bold to go to the Fountain of Polaris.

While Chariot, of all people, shouldn't be one to judge, she just can't help but worry if Arcas will attack her all of the sudden.

Speak of Devil, there is Arcas himself, running up the old building like a giant hamster upon a stick bridge. Chariot continued her way to the building and saw where Arcas was staring at.

There, hanging by the broken edge, were _Andrew_ and _Akko_ , hanging by one another with the latter red in the face as the former tried desperately to hold onto the broken concrete as a bit of his underwear showed.

Chariot almost slipped off her broom at the sight.

And while she was panicking onto why the son of Hanbridge was there with Akko, with donkey ears and tail of all things, Arcas suddenly made a move and jumped over to them, thus, breaking the remains of the pillars and masts that supported them all.

' _ARCAS, YOU DUMB FURBALL!_ ' Chariot screamed internally as panic rose in her chest.

The two teens screamed as they fell to what may be their deaths, debris and the weight of Arcas following them fast and Chariot whipped out her wand.

She pointed it at them and shouted, " _Paleis Capama_!" and there, green bubbles of magic formed around the bear and the brunettes, letting the rubble fall for themselves.

Relief washed over Chariot's heart, as if a massive weight had just been pulled off of her shoulders. She flew overhead of them and the redhead saw Arcas looking confused for a while before looking up and seeing her.

Chariot smiled softly at him. "It's nice to see you again, Arcas."

She suppose she should deal with the two teens later.

* * *

Akko stared up at the twenty-foot tall entrance towards the Fountain of Polaris, the pattern of Big Dipper shining on the elegantly woven boughs above. It looked like a one-way mirror, and beyond it was a marble staircase among a sea of stars.

"The Big Dipper Arc." Akko said in awe.

She stared at it, amazed. How something so beautiful and elegant could be missed by their eye if it was here all the time confounded Akko to oblivion. Maybe the legends were true; it could only really unlocked were a witch looked hard enough.

Akko gulped, staring at the staircase, not knowing what she should do. Should… should she just enter? Just like that? No… no proper prayer, no offering? Just her and her dirty clothes with a rabbit trait from a messed up spell? By Jennifer, that feels wrong.

Akko felt uneasy as she stared at the majestic pathway. How could she just enter? After she just destroyed almost half of the old northern building of Luna Nova? Akko looked down. She… She should just go back and tell everyone about her stunt and have Headmaster Holbrooke erase this spell.

At least it'll make Andrew's donkey ears go away and maybe even fix the building.

But as Akko made one step behind her, she felt a hand pushing her back. Akko turned to Andrew. "What are you waiting for? We came all this way didn't we?" He said and grinned.

Akko stared at him then at the Big Dipper Arc. Y-Yes… She went all this way for it. She endured this git's questions, the Whomping Willow and Arcas while running fifteen miles in half an hour, so why should she chicken out? This is what she was looking for so dirty or no, she should go ahead and get that Polaris's blessing.

Akko smiled and, though hesitantly, she began to step towards the Big Dipper Arch, Andrew following her soon.

The staircase was long and snaked towards its end; however, all around it was like being inside planetarium. Stars were littered across like an endless void, shining brighter than the brunette has ever seen them. She recognized several constellations that she couldn't see in the sky. Behind her, Akko could hear Andrew's 'whoas' and 'wows'. And she was almost tempted to say it herself.

Soon, the walk towards the fountain was shorter than she thought. As they went nearer, Akko couldn't help it anymore. She sprinted up towards the top and finally reached it.

There, standing on the middle of the pillar was an orb of water that spun continuously.

"The Fountain of Polaris," she heard Andrew breathe out behind her.

And so it is. She went closer to it and saw the orb of water reflecting her face.

With her best posture, she stood in front of it and clamped her hands in front of her, praying.

"I beg of you," muttered Akko. "Bestow upon me the power of the stars… Please."

First, a moment of silence.

Then, another moment.

Several seconds later, as no sounds came by instead of the sound of the water floating towards the orb, Akko peaked an eye open and then saw what had reflected on the orb.

It wasn't her but another girl she didn't know.

The timid-looking girl on the reflection had short, blue hair with glasses covering her red eyes, wearing the same thing Akko was wearing, the Luna Nova uniform. A thought made Akko think that this girl was familiar before the girl turned away and began for the stairs.

Akko stared, transfixed, before the orb shone and Akko sees a new scene. The same girl with blue hair and glasses walked through the streets of Blytonbury with her nose buried in a book, eyes scanning it eagerly. She passed by an old woman who was waiting to cross the street but the cars never stopped.

When the girl was a few paces away from the woman, she turned back and looked at the street. Then, with narrowed eyes, she took out her wand and unleashed a spell to the lady and dozens of balloons were attached to her waist all of the sudden.

The old woman took flight, just barely a few feet off the ground, and floated towards the other end. At the peculiar sight, the cars instantly stopped.

When the old woman finally crossed the street, the balloons' strings unwrapped themselves and off they went to the heavens. She didn't mind much and continued on her merry way but the blue-haired girl was shouted and scolded by the drivers who stopped, looking timid as ever.

Then another flash of light and Akko sees the same girl again, this time in front of a cauldron that had exploded with a young-looking Professor Lukic behind her shocked.

 _Flash!_ the girl was fighting off an enormous flytrap-like plant in somewhere that looked like Arcturus forest.

 _Flash!_ the girl in a broom racing across trees and rocks whilst carrying a ring, which Akko assumed, must be the Broom Relay race.

 _Flash!_ this time the girl was surrounded by children who were playing around with paper birds that were magicked into animation.

In each set of flash, the same girl with blue hair and glasses was set in a situation that was more or less dangerous but with each one showing her improvement with her magic and wand. Not just magically; her personality, which was at first, shy and timid to a more confident one, smiling more often and talked to a lot more people.

Akko stared, in awe, as the single orb from the fountain had multiplied and the whole room was filled with them, like someone had blown massive bubbles all around room. And each one was showing with the memory of the girl.

Akko just wondered, ' _Who was this girl?_ ' before she heard an echoing of footsteps coming from behind and she turned back to see the same girl again.

Only this time, she was an illusion of light. And instead of the same midnight blue hair which she adorned in the orbs, her hair was now in the color of bright red, the ends of her hair showing a bit of blue but it was all what Akko needed to know the girl.

"Chariot?!" she exclaimed as the younger Chariot, still glowing magnificent as ever, approached a replica of the Fountain of Polaris, wielding what Akko could see as the Shiny Rod.

Young Chariot pushed her glasses up towards her nose and faced the Fountain with mounting respect. Then, she tipped her head, holding her skirt and bowed before it.

Akko stared, confused, amazed and frightened at the same time, wondering what on earth the redhead was about to do before Chariot lifted the Shiny Rod up in the air. The stones on the Shiny Rod shone blindingly bright, brighter than it ever did in her shows.

From the void of stars above, the stars glittered and came down a shower of shooting stars. The stars headed for the Shiny Rod like metal to a magnet and they all formed into a giant bird made of light, which tabbed its wings once before dissolving in the wand.

As it did, Young Chariot moved gracefully and the rod glowed with power. Soon, she was engulfed in pure light and the magic covered her being.

Akko had let her jaw drop before Young Chariot shone and with a bright flash, a brilliant bird made of magic erupted from her spot; powerful and majestic.

And—

 _FLASH!_

Akko was back on the debris-littered opening of the North Building again, facing what was a reduced from the Big Dipper Arc. Though she didn't do anything, she felt her heart drumming in its ribcage, taking in everything that had just transpired all the while she was trying to down that she had just seen Shiny Chariot's _childhood_.

Then she heard a familiar voice. "'The Fountain of Polaris bestows the great magic power of the stars unto the witch with hidden radiance. However, when visited by an immature witch, yet unworthy to wield its powers—"

"'It vanishes before her eyes'," Akko finished and turned to Professor Chariot, who smiled softly at her. "Or so says the book."

"Correct. And," continued the professor. "It seems your visit was still a tad premature, Miss Kagari."

Akko looked into her eyes, the same red eyes that once held full of happiness in her laptop screen, now full of disappointment. Her heart lurched and realized how rude it was of her to suddenly see Shiny Chariot's past, a topic of which that she never bothered to learn. She knew from Chariot's interviews that she wasn't fond of talking about it. Akko knew that to heart, but now that she knew…

She felt more or less wrongly told than excited. She was scared even.

As if she had just stepped into a territory that she shouldn't have crossed in the first place. There was nothing wrong happening when she was in front of the fountain but there was some sort of deeper, more hidden meaning and for once, she wasn't interested on why she felt it that way.

Because knowing it wasn't what made Akko's stomach feel hot, or how she was holding her balled hands tightly or how her eyes were stinging with tears behind them. It wasn't that.

It was the fact that, "I had my hopes up."

* * *

Andrew snapped back to Akko. She had her back turned them, so he couldn't see her face very well.

"I… I thought that if I could find the Fountain of Polaris, I would be acknowledged as a witch with hidden radiance," she explained and lowered her head.

Andrew raised a brow. No, she told him she would find the fountain to help them with their dilemma. She even told him that she wasn't about to look for it. However, he decided it was best not to speak and continued to watch.

"But…" Akko continued and hung her face lower. "It's not something anyone can acknowledge you for." She admitted and released the grip on her skirt only to hold it again. "It's something you have to work hard for yourself, _and I know that_."

A heartbeat of silence, then Andrew hears Professor Chariot answer, "That's right. You knew from the start, Atsuko, and yet you still went after it."

Andrew stared at her, unbelieving how soft her words were spoken but had a deeper, more disdainful meaning. But he couldn't understand why. Was… Was she disappointed at her? Why would she, anyway? Akko had done a great job finding it so why—

"It's because—" Akko choked out, barely a whisper but it made Andrew turn to her.

He saw how her shoulders shook and when Akko turned, he saw her glassy eyes, the lashes wet and small tears pricking the corner of her eyes. Her face was red, not from anger or embarrassment from before but a sadder sort of red, like she was close to crying.

"It's because I—I … want to be like you!" she confessed and Andrew widened his eyes. "I—I want to be like you, Prof—Professor—!" She choked a sob back and looked down, ashamed.

Her uniform was battered, her hair frizzed and tangled from all the running and dust and was crying; she was standing like that in front of the person she wants to be like the most, feeling utterly and reasonably shameful for it.

And Andrew knew it was all his fault.

The night had been great, sure, best one he had since summer but seeing Akko like this? Man, he only knew her for barely half an hour and yet he knew it was _so wrong_.

Andrew turned back to Chariot again, waiting for her reply as Akko was stopping the tears from going out. She graced a small but gentle smile and walked over to Akko. The younger witch stopped making noises immediately and the older one held out something to her.

The Shiny Rod.

Andrew was taken aback.

"Here," He heard Professor Chariot say and Akko turned to face her. "Come back here in the future. At a time when you've grown far beyond where you are today."

Akko's mouth hung open, eyes wide and unbelieving. Her eyes switched from Professor Chariot and to the wand, back and forth, as if she couldn't believe it. But slowly, very slowly, Akko took the Shiny Rod from her, hands trembling like ice, and in a whisper she said, "I will."

* * *

Diana and Frank walked towards the entrance of the function hall where the party was held, looking worried, Diana more-so than Frank.

"Where could Andrew be?" asked Frank, knitting his brows together.

Diana, who had been running around the campus finding the nut, was trying to smoothen out her uniform but to no avail. "I don't know. But we might get in trouble if we can't find fast." She replied hastilly.

' _I need to tell the teachers. It would be easier and quicker but then I know I'll get an earful if I do—'_ Diana's train of thought was cut off by laughter that echoed behind them.

The two blondes turned back to the hall that connected the function hall and the rest of the campus and found two familiar brunettes walking towards their direction. Diana almost choked despite the fact she had nothing in her mouth.

"Andrew!" Frank cried in surprise.

"Atsuko!?" Diana yelped, stepping back as the girl who she thought was supposed to be in her dorm right now was accompanying her childhood friend back to the party, laughing like they just shared a joke.

Andrew stopped his talk and turned back Diana and Frank. His smile brightened but when Diana glanced at Atsuko, she noticed how her smile she shared with Andrew had dissolved into her natural hard look. Diana right then felt uncomfortable.

"Oh, Diana! Frank!" He jogged up to them and the two went ahead to close the gap.

Diana asked first. "Where have you been? We were looking for you for almost an hour!"

"O-Oh, uhh…" Andrew widened his eyes and glanced around, a trait Diana knew that Andrew had to think up of an excuse. She was about to call him out for it but Atsuko was fast to cut in.

"Andrew wandered straight to the dormitories and I found him lurking around. Says he was 'lost'," she explained and Andrew looked at her incredulously. She saw his glance and shrugged. "It's true, you creep."

"What! But you were the one who was—"

Atsuko smacked his stomach with the Shiny Rod (' _wait, what?_ ') she held and he doubled over. He mumbled something under his breath but Diana couldn't hear it.

Atsuko gave him a last sideward's glance and then turned back to them. "Anyway, he just wandered about and did nothing more. Now I better go back," Atsuko turned her heel. "Professor Chariot is waiting. I bid you three a good evening."

And there she stalked off.

Diana felt disappointed a bit, staring at Atsuko's leaving figure before Andrew shot up from the ground. "Wait, Akko!"

Diana froze. Did she hear that right? Did… Did Andrew just call Atsuko 'Akko'? The heiress stared in disbelief as Andrew scrambled to Frank, asking for a pen and taking out _a Shiny Chariot trading card from his blazer_. And a rare one at that!

The heiress couldn't understand what was happening. Even more so when Frank had produced a random marker, Andrew took it and wrote something on the trading card's back. Diana almost wanted to slap him. When he finished, he ran up to Atsuko.

"Hey, wait up!" called out Andrew.

"What's—Oh." Atsuko paused and gingerly took the card. Diana couldn't believe it but a small smile appeared on her face.

Andrew smiled and bared his teeth. "Do you have a phone?"

Atsuko glanced back up at him and to the card. "Hm? Yes, why ask…" As Atsuko turned the card around, she suddenly froze, her happy face that she made when she received the card transforming into a cold one that could freeze volcanoes.

Andrew could only smile. "Call me, okay?"

Akko stomped her foot and glared at Andrew angrilly. "This is a valuable card! How could you just write your number on it!?"

Andrew pouted and crossed his arms. "I had no other paper on me so had to think up of some way to keep in contact."

"But _why_?"

Diana stared aghast as Andrew and Atsuko argued on the other end of the hallway. What… What just happened? Diana knew Andrew was good with people, almost as good as her but him? Befriending _Atsuko_?

An hour ago, if someone had told Diana that before a quarter to nine, Atsuko and Andrew would share jokes and argue like old friends, the heiress would laugh until she hurt her middle. But now? Man, it was like a bin was thrown at her face.

Seeing Andrew just cozying up to Atsuko like that, making it look like it was as easy as sitting on a chair, it made her feel so… so _weird_.

Like some kind of foreign anger festered up in her and Diana couldn't help but ask herself, ' _What is wrong with me?_ '

As Andrew walked up back to them, she saw from the corner of her eye, Atsuko, albeit awkwardly, waving back to his direction. When her figure had turned a hallway and disappeared, they walked back to the entrance of the function hall.

Diana stared at him from the corner of her eye, suspicious, with Andrew looking rather content and happy. ' _What happened?_ ' She wanted to ask that but she knew Andrew wouldn't tell her. He was loyal like that so she went for the kill instead.

"So you know Atsuko," Diana stated as she opened the door.

"Hm? Oh, you mean Akko," Andrew laughed and Diana's eye twitched. "Yeah, she's great! Of course I just met her an hour ago but she's a really good tour guide!"

Diana lowers her guard a bit, smiling at the thought. "Well, yeah, she memorized this school by heart."

" _I know_ ," Andrew breathed. "Like, whenever I point at something, she always seems to have an answer for it, like those haunted buildings at the bac—"

"Haunted buildings?" repeated Diana, peering her eyes at Andrew suspiciously. How does he know about that?

"Oh, uh—" Andrew laughed and said, "Well, we were travelling somewhere near it and I asked what those were for. So… yeah."

Diana stared at him.

Yep. He is absolutely lying.

They weren't just _near_ those abandoned, wild-plant ridden buildings at the north of Luna Nova. You couldn't just _see_ them from the window either. You have to travel either via broom, or walk a mile north away from here. But Diana just let it slide and made her way towards where she could see Barbara was and left the two boys find their way towards Paul.

Even though both Andrew and Atsuko were meters away from her, she could still feel that there was a bridge they had that Diana had never made herself for her and Atsuko. And it made uncharacteristically envious.

* * *

" _Metamorphie… Faciesse_!"

A bullet of magic shot out from the tip of Akko's wand and hit the mouse right-on. Then, with a resounding poof, the rat had finally turned into a proper white-furred rabbit.

A relieved sweat trickled down her temple and Akko smiled in satisfaction. She heard Lotte and Sucy gasping in surprise behind her and Professor Badcock raised a brow. Akko turned to her and asked, "So? How is it, Professor?"

Professor Badcock petted her mouse-turned-rabbit, examining it as closely as possible. Akko nervously waited on the side, crossing her fingers behind her. After a moment, the professor put the lop back to the table, twirled her wand, and transformed it back to its original mouse form.

"Good enough." She took out her clipboard, wrote something on it, and ripped out a paper with a B- written on it.

Akko's heart raced fast and she held the piece of paper like it came from space. She made a tiny squeal of delight and turned to where Professor Badcock was leaving. "Thank you so much, Professor!"

She only shrugged and opened the door. "Thank Professor Chariot for helping you with it, not me, child." She told her and swiftly stalked out of the room.

As Akko watched her leave, Lotte jumped from behind her. "You did it! You actually did it, you worthless witch!" she said happily, shaking her by the shoulders. "For the first time, you actually scored a B instead of a C in a _performance task_!"

"'Worthless'…?" Akko echoed, but was also too happy to even bother with the insult.

"Issa' joke, Akko," Lotte said and saw Sucy glancing at her paper.

"Well that makes two B's for the red team." The puce-haired witch commented and lifted a hand.

Akko slapped it happily, for the first time is actually proud to have this score. "Two B's."

"And an A! Don't forget my A, I worked hard on it," Lotte joined and they left the room as a whole, Akko's paper with a B waving around like a flag.

* * *

 **B's notes:**

 **Pardon to everyone who skipped the Ankko and I'm terribly sorry for ruining your Diakko but I would be lying I said I didn't enjoy writing this.**

 **Yeah, that sentence didn't make much sense.**

 **Anyways, R!Chariot is here boiiiiiis! I hope you like how she's introduced though it's a tad too blurry. Can't do proper POV's for shit. Also, who wants to see her in a tracksuit?**

 **PS: take a shot everytime you read 'Fountain of Polaris'**


	7. Chapter 7

Diana stared at the growing crowd gathering over where Professor Chariot was.

Since the 1333rd Broom Relay race was but a week away, most students who were planning on entering were starting to form strategies and plans in order to win the cup. And of course, since most of the students entering were first years and most likely have no experiences in broom racing at all, they were looking for teachers and veterans who had won the race and are questioning how they won their trophies.

The first witch who everyone looked for advice was Professor Chariot du Nord, who was rumored to have won the race before.

And it was basically what any sensible witch would do. Someone who's as amazing with a broom and had loads more experience as Professor Chariot could have plenty of tips to give, maybe even some secrets to what she'd done to achieve it.

After all, who wouldn't follow an advice of a veteran witch with years of professional flying on her sleeves?

Diana, that's who.

The heiress turned back and went to the opposite direction where Professor Chariot's swarm of fans were, followed quickly by Hannah and Barbara, who were glancing back and forth from their leader to the other students who were gathering to other end of the hallway.

"Hey, uh, Diana, isn't Professor Chariot back over there?" Barbara whispered and Diana flashed a grin at her.

"What, and ask for advice and do exactly what she did in her race?" Diana turned a hallway and they were now passing by the glassed panel of pictures of witches who won the race over the past 100 years. From the very old black and white picture of the first team who had their photograph up to the previous year, where Betsy Goldenburg's team was holding the golden cup. "Not a chance," answered Diana.

The blue team paused to where the trophy and medals were displayed, looking up in wonder as the polished gold and bronze reflected their faces.

"Hmm… While I know you're an excellent flyer yourself Diana," said Hannah, "Don't you think it's a bit arrogant for us to enter without having some guides? This isn't like middle school, you know."

Crossing her arms, Barbara added, "It's different from those 300-meter glides,"

"But is it so different from our adventures in my family forest, though?" countered Diana with a smirk. She turned to them with a wide smile. "Come on guys! We're three good witches who have top-notch experience with our brooms! Others are great too but I'll just know we'll win the cup this year!"

"Well…" Hannah hummed, remembering their many excursions into the forest with their brooms. It earned them plenty of experience of course, having to fly and dodge away magical creatures from every angle, more than whatever their family or school has ever offered them.

But Hannah and Barbara weren't half of what Diana is made of. She came from a pure bloodline of witches. She ventured more forests. Has more experience with brooms than half the teachers do. Knows how to control and guide them, no matter its age and type of magic it engages. She can make flying through thick forests as easy as gliding through an open field.

So it wasn't surprising to see Diana have so much confidence. In fact, she was practically favored by the people of Blaytonbury and the academy to win this year, to no one's surprise. Hannah and Barbara were confident as well, knowing when they hand the ring to Diana, it was already a sure first place for them.

However, this was Luna Nova. So they'd rather be prepared than to act like the Broom Relay was taken lightly.

"Okay then," nodded Barbara and Hannah agreed with a hum. Diana grinned broadly and widely, and the blue team swiftly stalked out of the hallway and to the dorms, already thinking up of a secure plan in order to win that cup.

* * *

Akko glowered at her feet, unbelieving that her practices with the broom that the school provided were fruitless. She kicked the grass, sending a few leaves a good one or two inch away from her and Lotte looked at her with a mien of boredom.

"Tell me again why we're even behind the laboratories, Akko?" asked the Fin.

"One," started Akko, "Because I need to practice. Two, I can't practice in broad daylight as I know we'll be mocked again. And three," she continued, "I'd rather not risk of a fight happening with your and my temper combined. So better train in the dark instead of training with a bunch posies hovering over us," she told her teammates adamantly, crossing her arms and glaring at her broom severely, like she was condemning it. She added suddenly, "I thought you already knew that, Lotte."

"Sorry," Lotte mumbles, not sorry at all and returns to her book.

Since her complete (and literal) dive at the first flying lesson about three days ago, Akko had been running in and out of their dorm to practice in order to fly properly like a 'witch'. Sucy and Lotte don't mind, it gives them something to do outside of studying and playing card games in their dorm but what was annoying was the constant screaming of the same spell over and over.

Their usual spot to practice broom flying was somewhere in the school yard of the building near the function halls, which is to say quite parallel to the entrance of Luna Nova, where almost barely a few witches go. However, in the past few days, more and more witches with brooms have been hogging space for themselves, leaving Akko and Lotte quite in a tirade. After enduring two hours of other team's taunts and insults, the red team retreated and found themselves behind the laboratory buildings, where they were confined and away from the obnoxious others.

"Well, beggars can't be choosers." Sucy commented as she studied a blue petal she plucked from somewhere.

Akko, sighing through her nose, readjusted her witch hat again and mounted her broom. "Alright…" she said to no one. Then, pouring all of her heart out, she shouted, " _TIA FREYRE_!" and kicked off the ground.

Only to land back. She cried again, louder this time and kicked off the ground more violently, only for the same thing to happen.

It became a vicious cycle of shouting, kicking the ground, landing back, glare a bit at the broom, and shouting again. This was what Akko had been enduring for the last week and it irked her that all of her practices had never once shown improvement, no matter how carefully studied her teammates performing it or pouring herself off a book.

It was as if she had no magic herself, which is downright _**PROPOSTEROUS**_!

If she didn't have a trace of magic then kindly explain the deal with the Shiny Rod then! It activated to her wills twice now, both from Arcturus Forest and under the Jennifer Tree so who's to lie she doesn't have anything magical in her?

Maybe Lotte but she's a different matter altogether.

Feeling her voice turning hoarse, she steps off of her broom and heard Sucy from behind her. "Tired?"

Grumbling, Akko nodded. "Slightly," she looked over her broom and stared at it. "What is wrong with this broom? Do you guys think this is broken?" she asked and turned to them.

They shrugged and Lotte stood up from her spot. "I think the better question is," she said. "Why are people suddenly out and practicing _their_ flying? Now of all times?"

This time, the other two shrugged. Then a familiar voice said from their left, "I think it's because of the Broom Relay race coming next Saturday."

The red team turned and found Amanda and Jasminka standing at the end of the building, holding their respective brooms.

"Amanda! Jasminka!" Akko cried, surprised at the green team's arrival at their spot. "How did you know we were here?"

Jasminka munched on a pear and said, "It was rather hard to miss the shouting."

At her answer, Akko blinked and the statement sunk into her. She avoided their gaze and flushed. "I… I see," she cleared her throat. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sucy and Lotte giving little grins of amusement at her direction. She needed to change the subject fast. "Anyway," Akko said quickly, "You said something about a race, Amanda?"

"Yes," the redhead nodded and walked over to their spot. "Luna Nova's annual broom race. It's like a Swedish race of sorts. Teams that enter will fly on their brooms with a bronze ring acting as a baton, passing it to one another."

"A relay?" Akko repeated, widening her eyes.

"Ohhh, I completely forgot about that," Sucy said from where she was standing. "The 1333rd Broom Relay race."

Akko turned to her with a look of shock. "You know about it, Sucy?"

Sucy sheepishly avoided her gaze. "Well, I heard some of our classmates talk about it this morning but I didn't really care…" She turned to the green team leader. "Isn't it coming this week, Amanda?"

She nodded and beamed. "Yes! That's why Jasminka and I were looking for a place to train. Do you guys mind sharing some space?"

"Oh, we don't," said Akko. "But I'd like some more insight on this relay."

"Like I told you, it's a broom flying relay," said Amanda. "The first witch starts off with a 200 meter glide, holding the ring before passing it to the other witch, who goes twice the distance. The final witch will have to fly more than _thrice_ of the second witch's distance."

Akko did the math. "Wait, that's more than a kilometer. Isn't our sports ground a little smaller than that?"

Then the brunette saw her mushroom roommate's grin. "Keke… Who said the race was going to happen on the sports ground, Akko?"

* * *

With a swift kick to the base, the broom stood up straight and stopped almost a foot above the ground. Diana huffed and stepped down swiftly. She looked over to Barbara with the timer.

"How was that?"

"5.02 seconds…" the dark-haired fanatic whispered with wide eyes. "And that was an eighty-foot drop!"

Diana grinned and saddled on her broom that she led afloat. "Nice!" she cried and suddenly heard applause.

The blue team turned behind them and saw quite a few witches had stared at their spot in the courtyard. A girl with red hair with a pair of dark-skinned girls behind her gaped, Avery's team were whistling encouragements ("You go, Diana!") and, a few teachers who came around to see the students who were training gave affirming nods at Diana's direction.

With a bright smile, she waved back for a bit before Barbara threw a hand over her shoulder. "This year will be our year, Diana! No doubt about it!"

"Yep!" Hannah came strolling over them, probably finished helping out the other teams' practice. "With Diana on our side, there's no way we can't win first place." She said with an air of confidence.

Diana flushed a bit and scratched her head. "Aw shucks, guys, you're making me blush…" she muttered and then turned to Barbara. "C'mon, enough about me! Give me that timer and let's see _your_ eighty-foot drop!"

* * *

Akko stared at her map that she laid out what was supposed to be the entire track for the race.

Since Luna Nova wasn't a prized academy for nothing, it was no surprise for them to elevate what would be a standard broom race to a sophisticated one that could even make older witches grit their teeth.

The first track was a simple plain that starts some half a mile away from the New Moon Tower, where the first flyers, or leg flyers, would stand before the gun shots. However, Amanda had told her that the starting point would be at least fifty feet off the ground and gliding up above fifty feet would cause some problems to witches who only ever flew above twenty.

The higher the witch is, the more magic does her broom consume. So magical endurance and speed was what the first track was all about, and speed, especially, was of the essence.

The next course, the course that the second flyer would fly through, was more complex. It didn't involve endurance but agility. Dodging tree trunks, branches and overgrown roots while trying to stay inside the line; you have to have a keen sense of direction and navigation. The course would be traditionally either tracked around the interior of the forest but travelling outside was just as hard. Then there are the witches who will be hogging the limited spaces.

The final course was perhaps the hardest of all.

The anchor flyer would begin thirty stories of the New Moon Tower and follow the surreal track of old ruins, elevated hills and an even thicker part of the forest. You either fly above all the obstacles and slow down or fly near the ground but endure and dodge everything that comes. When out of the obstacle course, the anchor flyer would have to fly all the way back to the sports ground and have a final lap around it before finishing.

First prize would earn the team the gold and bronze Broom Relay cup, an extra prize from a mystery teacher ("I heard the faculty would draw ballots to see who'll be giving each year," added Lotte) and, of course, bragging rights. Second would be some sort of ribbon. Third would have nothing but a nice place in the shadows of the first place.

If Luna Nova hasn't already made a trait of monocracy, this race would surely beget it.

Akko stared at her piece of parchment, laying down all the notes Amanda had told her about the race.

She placed her hand on her chin, contemplating about the sophisticated setting of the race before she heard Lotte behind her.

"Well, we can't really bother with it," said Lotte as she peered over her shoulder to look at the map. "I mean, most of the team participants will just be a bunch of babies who want to show people that they can ride a broom. Like, all witches can ride a broom! Well, except maybe _you_ ," Akko glared. "But really, what's so great about able to fly some ways above twenty feet and dodging a few trees!?"

For a moment, Akko stares at her before stands up, picking her paper with her and says, "I suppose you're right, Lotte."

Because what she said was true, really. Despite Akko's fondness with races, as expected from a girl who devoted her club time to sports, she thinks the thing would be but a waste of time.

It was a broom race that only richer, more experienced witches would only enter. It's not about practicing your skills; sure, Jasminka added that Professor Nelson will add bonus points to whoever participates, but even then, it's just a bunch of kids gloating about their skills with a broom and how they could control it better than you.

Lotte shrugs and Amanda chirps from where she was gliding around her broom, twenty, maybe thirty feet above them. "You know, rumors been floating around the school lately."

"Rumors?" Akko echoes, looking up to her. Then she scoffs and turns away, not wanting to be involved with it. "Just ignore them, Amanda."

"But it involves about Professor Chariot though,"

At the name, Akko perks up almost instantly. Lotte and Sucy rolled their eyes at the sight. "Professor Chariot?" the brunette parrots again.

Amanda nodded. "Yep. From what I heard, Professor Chariot was a winner of this race nearly a decade ago."

Akko gasped silently. "Is that why so many of our classmates have been going to her lately?" she asked.

"Ohhh…" drawled Lotte with a bored look. "That would be why Astronomy lessons have been like flying lessons lately."

"Professor Chariot…" Akko whispered dreamily and the four other witches swore they saw real stars forming in her eyes. The brunette shook out of her stupor. "Did she really win it?!"

Amanda shrugged in her place. "Maybe. It's just a rumor but her tips have certainly given others improvements."

"Of course they would improve! She's Shiny Chariot, after all!"

Sucy sighed. "You're hopeless with the Professor, Akko,"

"No, I'm not!" Akko countered and then dashed off. "I'll make sure to make her notice me so I won't be hopeless," she shouted over her shoulder. "Stay put here guys! I'll be back in a moment!"

And with that, the remnants of the green and red team stared at Akko's leaving figure before she turned and disappeared.

Lotte turned to Amanda. "You just _had_ to add Professor Chariot in this, did you?"

"I was kind of hoping for that reaction, honestly."

* * *

"God…" groaned Lotte. "I _still_ can't believe you put us up for the race."

"Well, it was a two against one, Lotte."

"Professor Lukic said she had an extra prize for the winners! I'll bet you ten pounds it must be something of a rare ingredient… Maybe a sea dragon's tail… or a griffin's beak… Oh! Maybe a brain matter of a mermaid!"

What could be rolling inside Sucy's head right now, Akko didn't know and certainly didn't want to. But here they were, at the back of the laboratories at 9 AM in the morning with brooms on their shoulders, waiting for the green team to make appearance so their training will begin.

When Akko pulled out the red team's entry for the race, Amanda had offered Akko some tutoring on riding a broom and in exchange for that, Akko would have to tutor Amanda on several subjects. The brunette realized that their pact wouldn't hurt and accepted it without much to argue.

However, she was still miffed on why the redhead wanted tutoring anyway. Since they shared quite a number of classes together, Akko knew that Amanda was one of the smarter witches in their batch. A's and B's on both performance tasks and written works, so there was ultimately no need for Akko's guidance. However, she insisted so here they were.

"Good morning, red team!"

Speak of the devil.

Akko turned to Amanda. "Good morning to you too, green team." She greeted out to the trio who, similar to them, were dressed in their purple robes with brooms hanging by their hands.

Akko noticed Constanze's broom. She modified it… somewhat. Where the colored sash of their team was replaced with a propeller and along of the base's sides were iron mufflers and the small engine Akko realized Constanze constructed during their Magictronics class.

"You modified your broom, Cons?" Lotte asked as Constanze showed it to them, pride flashing against her eyes.

She nodded happily. The German mounted it and with a swift kick to a lever connected to the engine, the mufflers roared to life and she took off. The red team gazed curiously as Amanda smiled at where Constanze was gliding in the air.

"Amazing…" Sucy whispered.

Akko turned to Amanda. "When did she customize it?"

"Yesterday," Amanda replied and shrugged. "Been working on it for tomorrow's race. She's not really in it to win though… More like an experiment."

"And she's going to use it?" Akko cocked a brow. "Is that fair?"

"Most of us are using our own brooms and others have already made some spells on it. Of course, Professor Nelson is there to overlook if they're cheating but what Cosntanze did is passable." Amanda replied. She showed her broom. "Everyone is using their own brooms. I'm using the one I had since middle school. Jasminka is using the school's provided broom."

"So it's okay for student to use whatever broom they like?" Akko widened her eyes. "They can even customize it?"

"It's fine as long as it doesn't violate the rules of hurting other witches. But what's important is the speed and agility of a broom," Amanda said and squinted. "The richer teams bought new ones."

Akko scoffs. "As if a new broom is going to make them win,"

Amanda smirked at her. "You know, that's what Diana said this morning in Linguistics,"

Akko side-eyed the girl. "And that connects to this conversation how…?"

Amanda shrugged. "Nothing, but I just wanted to tell you that she's using the school-provided broom."

Somehow, for a stupid reason, that made Akko scowl. She doesn't know why but it just does. But really, imagine being so confident and arrogant that you're just going to use some old broom that came from the school. However, Akko _did_ see what Diana can do with a broom. They were all the same class and Akko can admit Diana was rather… _capable_ with it. Not that she's going to say that out loud.

"Okay, enough chit-chat," Akko said. "Let's start."

Per usual, Amanda and Akko would be off to one side, trying to the get the latter kick off her broom at least a foot off the ground. The four remaining witches would practice themselves on passing the baton to one another without it falling off, as Amanda explained that if the baton fails to be given to the next witch, immediate disqualification.

Constanze and Sucy floated themselves about a hundred meters away from Jasminka and Lotte, floating thirty off the ground. Lotte, after confirming they were far away enough, gave a nod to Amanda, who had the timer on her hands. Akko was yet again screaming the flying spell on the side while the redhead was on her broom, afloat.

"Alright… Go!"

The little technician and potion master took off, both starting at the same pace before Constanze kicked the lever again and she boosted off at neck-breaking speed. Sucy gasped and started for it but her broom was a paper plane compared to the German's jet of a broom.

However, something happened as Cosntanze was fifteen, maybe ten meters away from Jasminka, who already had her free hand out to take the ring. The engine groaned and mufflers puffed out coughs of smoke, already out of magic. The sound made the German turn behind her with a gasp and suddenly, the broom jerked away.

Constanze feared she would fall as her broom started to dip down but the engine was faulty. Another jerk and magic puffed out of the mufflers again, too much, in fact, that the broom shot itself like a bullet to… Lotte.

"GUHAH!" the Fin cried as she was slammed off of her broom with Constanze following her, their brooms colliding to one another.

Amanda sat gaping and—

 _ **BAM!**_

 _ **CRASH!**_

"Oh!" Akko gasped and ran towards where Amanda, Lotte and Constanze were as a pile on the ground. "Oh my God, are you three fine, did any of you hit your head!?"

Sucy let out of small croak from where she floating on her broom and Jasminka landed back to the ground to pull them away from one another.

The three witches groaned and Lotte sat up. "Ugh… No… We didn't hit anything. We're okay," she said as she ran a hand through her hair, clearly disoriented from their twenty-foot fall.

Akko sighed through her nose and went over to Amanda who had the unfortunate cause to have her back hit the ground first. She held out her hand. "Let me help you there,"

"Thanks…" Amanda croaked and took it. Akko felt some splinters had planted on her palm. As she helped her up, Akko then saw what Amanda had crashed on.

There, in three pieces, was Amanda's broom, broken.

* * *

"Well… All I can advise you guys is to either rent another broom or use the school's," Professor Nelson said. "This one can't obviously be fixed in time for the race tomorrow, Miss O'Neill. Today's a Friday so you can go out of town to rent one today if you really don't want to use what we offer."

Amanda sighed and the green and red team went out of the Flight teacher's office glumly. "Guess I'll have to go now…"

"Uh, sorry again, Amanda…" Lotte whispered, unable to look the redhead in the eye.

Constanze was no different. " _Really sorry_." Her Stanbot beeped.

Amanda turned back to the two and Akko wondered if she would get angry right then but she only smiled.

She placed a hand on Lotte's shoulder calmly. "Please don't worry about it, Lotte," said Amanda. "It was an accident. Constanze's broom was a prototype so we couldn't have prepared ourselves."

Lotte puffed out her cheeks. "There's at least something I could do…"

"Well, if you know a shop where they can fix a broom in a blink of an eye, that would be fine," Amanda laughed. "Obviously, broom repair shops are so rare now…"

Akko saw Lotte's eyes lit up behind their glasses. "Oh, I know a good shop!" she exclaimed.

"You do?" Sucy asked.

Lotte nodded. "Yep. That's where my broom is currently fixed. It's broken because a certain _someone_ ," Akko saw Lotte's eyes flit towards her and the brunette turned away. "Thought it was a good idea to go to Arcturus forest. So it's in there now. But they just called me yesterday that my broom is ready. They're fast enough; your broom can be fixed there in less than a week!"

"Really?" At the offer, Amanda smiled, even a bit. "Well, okay then. I can leave my broom there."

"Excellent!" Lotte said. "I'll accompany you there,"

They heard a beeping noise and Amanda turned to where Standbot was standing. " _Coming too! Coming too!_ " It cried.

Amanda shook her head with a laugh. "Conz, you have to work on your broom. Didn't you say you have to fix it and prepare it for the race tomorrow?" Constanze looked unconvinced, still obviously guilty about destroying Amanda's broom. "Come on, you want to show to people about your new broom, right? Bet that'll make people see your new boosters!"

Constanze looked up, and, contemplating a bit, nodded, though not too enthusiastically.

"Okay. Me and Lotte and are going to Blytonbury to get mine fixed and find a new one. See you," With that, the two turned their heels but Akko stopped them.

"Wait!" They turned back. Akko realized she was going to sound silly. "Er, uh… You guys are going to a broom repair shop…"

Lotte looked at her with a smirk. "You wanna come?"

Akko looked away. "Yes."

* * *

"So, this is it?" Akko asked, looking up at the little black café with little plastic skeletons and witch-related ornaments displayed beyond the windows. Above the door was a sign that said 'Last Wednesday Society'.

If the design of the café didn't already make Akko think it was a shop for bogus witches, the name definitely did.

The brunette stared. Not that she was disappointed… But she was obviously not taken by the café's charm either. Akko should've expected this, considering this was Lotte's recommendation but she suppose to one's their own. Lotte nodded and Amanda barely shrugged in her cloak and they went in without much thought about the café's design. Akko trailed after them.

Passing through the strangely-designed door, a ding rung from above their heads and they went inside the poorly lit café. It was troublingly the most organized mess of a café that Akko has ever stepped into.

Around the shelves were a myriad of miscellaneous ornaments that Akko doesn't recognize. Large, skeletal parts hung from the ceilings with pictures among the empty sides of the walls that weren't already filled with shelves. A human-scaled skeleton with bat wings popping out of its shoulder blades was standing right next to a… _coffin_?

Akko looked away quickly and followed Amanda, who too was looking around the café. But instead of going pale, she looked rather fine.

"Hm? Welcome!" The witches turned to the red counter and found a man with a goatee sitting behind it with a clipboard in his hands. Despite his fit structure, he had sunken skin with greasy hair and heavy eye bags. Couldn't blame him, if Akko was the one who worked here, she too would have the same figure by then. He widened his eyes when they landed on Lotte. "Oh, hey Lotte!"

"Wassup!" Lotte returned the greeting with a grin and she walked over to him.

He leans over the counter. "You're picking up your broom today?" he asked.

Lotte nods and gives him a piece of yellow paper. "Yep! Tomorrow's the big race and we're in it."

He looked surprised. "You're entering?"

"Well, they forced me into this," She threw her thumb back to Amanda and Akko. They fidgeted. "So yeah, we're kind of entering."

"Oh, yeah?" He looked over at them. "You two look capable enough. Best of luck. I'm going at the back to retrieve your broom. Wait here."

When he disappeared to a door, Akko walked around the café. She walked over to the nearest line of shelves and looked over of the jars of different designs, Amanda following. Trapped in them were all different sorts of faeries and critters. Some Akko recognized from her books but most she was unable to distinguish.

She turned to the next shelf. A massive jawline with the teeth still intact; a skull that looked like a unicorn's; a potion the shape of a star that Akko was sure was expired; old goblets, and more and more antiques that she couldn't put her finger on.

"So… Where's the café?" Amanda asked.

Lotte pointed behind them and they turned to see a table with a single chair right beside battle swords and axes. And propped up against the wall was a dusty stool table.

"Not quite what I was imagining," Akko said. Amanda chuckled beside her though she knew she was disappointed, too.

Akko looked around the café and walked off. The man returned with Lotte's broom and Amanda presented hers, which made him widen his eyes. As the others made business, Akko ventured further into the shop and one item caught her eye.

Propped up five long shelves away from the counter, was a red broom with an arrow-like head and long feathers for its brush in a glass casing. It was long, but enough for one witch only. The red wood was so polished through that it reflected more than the glass. The brush was clean of dust.

Beautiful.

But somehow, its appearance made Akko think of the broom as familiar, feeling like she recognized it from a book somewhere…

Then it hit her. "Shooting Star?"

Though it was a whisper, the name seemed to catch the others' attention. Amanda went over to her as she gave the remaining pieces of her broom to the clerk. "Whoa," She breathed and looked over at it. "Is this the real Shooting Star?"

Lotte came up from behind them. "Seems so. I didn't see this here before so I guess it's new," She looked around and pointed somewhere above them. "Look."

The two turned and saw in a case a page of a newspaper that might be at least a hundred years old. The article involved was the broom in front of them and regarding one of its achievements.

"So it is!" Amanda exclaimed. Her eyes travelled back to the broom. "I heard the Shooting Star is a very valuable broom. Its wood was crafted from an ancient dragon tree near a super volcano centuries ago, with its feathers plucked very delicately, seven from different creatures; phoenixes, immortal griffins, sky dragons, and many others."

"It doesn't even need magic," added Lotte. "Legend has it that its own being is powerful enough to create its own source of energy which is why it constantly travels on its own without the aid of a Philosopher's Stone."

"So… No one has really ridden it?" Akko asked, turning to them with brows raised.

"Very few," They all flinched and turned around to see the clerk standing behind them with his hands on his hips. "The Shooting Star is as free as it is powerful. Rumor was two hundred and fifty years ago, a witch had ridden it all across the Atlantic Ocean without a Philosopher's Stone on 'er. Says it's so fast, it's like a shooting star. Hence, it's name."

Amanda gasped, "The _entire_ Atlantic Ocean?"

"It's not a legendary broom for nothing," He winked and Amanda turned back to the broom, obviously in awe.

"And you guys captured it?" Akko asked and squinted at the broom, not quite buying its appearance here, considering how highly the others were talking about it. "Without any struggle? Seems…" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Like a scam."

"Hey," the store clerk said, irked. But as Akko sees his reflection on the glass, she realized his tone didn't really match the look on his face. He looked rather… evasive.

"Wait a second…" Lotte said very randomly, putting a finger on her chin. "Wasn't there news about the Shooting Star declared missing five years ago?"

Amanda and Akko turned to her, aghast. " _What_?" Amanda asked eyes wide. "Shooting Star, _missing_?"

"Oh," The man whispered. He looked around the store, as if there was anyone eavesdropping them, then turned to them. "Well… there was that. But it's been a long time since, Lotte. Though there are still no sightings of it, people are just letting it go."

"Wait, can you kindly explain why it was even missing in the first place?" Akko cut in, looking at the man then at Lotte.

"Hmm… How to say this…" The man scratched his greasy head. "You see, the Shooting Star is _fast_. Like _fast_ fast. Has powerful endurance and its own mind. Can fly for decades without a break. But it's never disappeared.

"Since it flies nearly every continent a day, the magic society can't track it down to its definite path. But it's always seen either floating or flying in the sky by a witness. Always have been. However, a year before its official disappearance, a month came by without anybody seeing it. The ministry began to look for it but it never seems to appear anymore. Then they just made it official but people shrugged it off."

Akko stared, furrowing her brows at the profound information. "So… It disappeared? Just like that? Wiped away from the surface of earth?"

"Yep. And, here's the funny thing, actually," He said, avoiding her piercing gaze. "Since its disappearance, people have been declaring and faking that they've seen it. Even made some stuff to prove that they even 'captured' it. Some said that it was literally on their doorstep and took it to the officials. But as all comes, most of 'em were _fake_." He said with an air of finality. "So there you have it. Why the Shooting Star was declared missing."

The witches stared, burrowing their brows, taken aback at the broom's past. Amanda turned to the Shooting Star.

"So… this isn't really the real thing?" she asked.

Akko thinks that revealing an item's past wouldn't be a good way to attract customers but she doesn't say. However, she felt her hands beginning to inch to touch the broom's casing but she caught herself. Maybe if this wasn't even the real thing... It was childish but somehow, she felt herself going as excited as Amanda about it.

The man mysteriously said, "Depends on you if you _think_ it's real."

Akko dismissed her thoughts and hardened her face. "Where did you guys even get a broom as renowned as the Shooting Star, anyway?" she asked because she was sure a magic-item shop as run-down as this wouldn't have the money to the original Shooting Star, missing or no. Unless… "Did you capture it?"

"Er, no," The man answered and leaned on the counter. "My boss won it in an auction last week when somebody at the local pub had showed it upfront. Says it appeared suddenly at the nearby forest grounds, just… sitting there," He said, not quite convinced as well. But then he resumed his smile. "But what's done's done. The broom is just here for sight-seeing and rent, nothing more."

Amanda perked up at the word 'rent'. "You guys are going to lend the Shooting Star!?" she asked, stunned.

The man shrugged. "Yeah, it's one of rental brooms now," He studied her. "You want to test it?"

Amanda nodded. "Please!"

The red team turned to each other, unsure before shrugging. The clerk collected the broom from the case and went out to the back of the store where a small, clear yard was, obviously for test flyers. Akko took out her Leyline Router, the magic device Professor Croix invented that could pick up magic from the leylines, and turned it on. She nodded to Amanda's direction, indicating that their magic was up.

Mounting the broom, Amanda yelled, " _Tia Freyre_!" and floated off the ground effortlessly. She widened her eyes, amazed before her expression turned to a more excited one. The other three clapped their hands at the flawless kick-off before Amanda flew higher and higher.

Once she was twenty feet in the air, the clerk cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, are you good up there!?"

Her excited grin was enough of an answer. Nodding, she glided downwards before somersaulting. Before she was a foot on the ground, she pulled the broom's arrow-like head and it stood upright, finishing her test flight.

Once she was back on the ground, she looked at the broom with stars in her eyes. "This broom is amazing!" she cried. "It's so smooth and nimble!" she turned to them. "Did you see how fast it answered me when I landed back there!? Like, it read my mind on what I was about to do!"

Amanda had turned into a fanatic as she kept reviewing about the Shooting Star in her hands. Of course, neither Akko nor Lotte had the heart to tell her that Amanda had did exactly what she had done with her previous broom before so they remained quiet, not wanting to end their friend's excitement.

"Alright, O'Neill, stop buffing yourself up," Lotte stepped forward. "I wanna take a nab at it!"

Amanda happily lent the Shooting Star to Lotte and the Fin had done quite similarly to Amanda. She glided through the air with a few tricks but in Akko's opinion, the broom acted no more than what the standard Luna Nova broom acted. Only its designs were different.

When they left the store with two new brooms in hand, the three of them mounted on their brooms and flew ahead to the Leyline Terminal, Amanda on the Shooting Star while the red team shared on Lotte's.

"You know," started Lotte as Akko grabbed on her waist. "The broom was pretty normal. When I rode it, it felt exactly like what my broom does."

"So you noticed it too?" Akko asked, angling her head to see Lotte's face.

She nodded. "Yeah. I don't think you were wrong about the Shooting Star being a scam," she said. "I love that store but even I know that they often show up with bogus stuff. What he said about the Shooting Star's auction was true, my pops was there, but its reason for appearing…" she trailed off, looking up to the sky with her brows knitted together.

Akko nodded in agreement. "Indeed, seems quite off," She said and remained silent for a while but when her eyes met Amanda's figure, the edges of her lips curled upwards. "But at least Amanda finally has a broom for tomorrow's race."

And as if on cue, Amanda shifted and she slowed down to keep in pace with them, swiftly gliding to their right, and said, "Hey guys! I can actually believe my team can win tomorrow!" with a bright smile.

The red team returned the smile back. "You betcha'!" Lotte encouraged and Akko gave a nod, agreeing with Lotte's statement. At their words, Amanda grinned and accelerated and not too long, she was already yards ahead of them.

While Akko couldn't care of Amanda's rental broom, she was positive that Amanda would be at the top ten. In fact, Akko _wanted_ to Amanda to win, _anybody_ in fact, as long as it's not Diana. After all, Amanda could almost match her skills with the broom, if she wasn't already, and Diana… Well, she couldn't just _stand_ her.

However, if there was anything better than Amanda surpassing her… She supposes it's selfish, but Akko wanted her own team to win.

But with their circumstances now and her less than nothing skills with her broom, chances of beating Amanda, much less Diana, was slim to none. Lotte couldn't match their speed and Sucy just wasn't the flying type so Akko didn't want to pressure them. After all, she already forced them into the race but winning?

As Akko saddled comfortably behind Lotte, she looks down over the hill where the Leyline Terminal was perched and sees about a dozen Luna Nova students hanging around with their brooms, presumably training for the race tomorrow.

As the three entered Luna Nova, Lotte and Amanda swiftly dodged the other broom-riders in the air and stepped down once they were in one of the verandahs of Luna Nova. They went their separate ways and once Lotte and Akko arrived at their dorms, they knocked it open gently, honestly tired from their excursion today.

"Hey, we're back," Lotte called out and slowly peeled off her cloak.

Akko did the same and as she unbuttoned, Sucy looked up from her beakers and pestle, where an unsual bright blue blob was mushed together. "Welcome back! You guys are just in time," she said, her voice full of excitement.

Akko perked up and sat on her bed, amused at Sucy's rare change of tone. "What's up?"

Sucy grinned and what she next couldn't have been something Akko had anticipated.

With her unnerving teeth flashing, she said, "I've finally formed a plan on winning tomorrow's race."

* * *

 **B's notes:**

 **And, that's it for part one. The last chapter was a tad too long so I had to cut them in case you guys get too sick of looking at the word count. Even then, this chap is quite long too but I think you guys might tolerate it, considering my slow updates.**

 **Hope you like this chapter though!**

 **Until then!**


	8. Chapter 8

If anyone had known Akko truthfully, it was that she wasn't a cheater. She grew up with fair ideals, and knew that if she doesn't poke around, she wouldn't be at the end of the stick. Her mother had drilled that into her mind farther than Akko would've minded but it made her awfully dignified during her school years; she was fair, unwavering to bribes, and valued legit credit far more than cheap, fat scores.

And whenever the subject cheating arrived, her answers will always be the same.

"I'm not going to do this," Akko said, lowering the potion from her gaze, her eyes showing clear disgust.

"Aw c'mon, Akko!" groaned Sucy.

"This is cheating and you guys know it!" screeched Akko.

"But how else are we going to keep you airborne?" The pale witch rubbed her temples. "This is probably the best chance we have."

"Yeah," agreed Lotte as she hung from her bed like a bat, trying to see how long she'll last in that position until she faints with all the blood flowing through her head. "Nearly two weeks of practice and you still can't jump off the ground. And besides, it's not like it's poisonous…"

Akko stopped glaring at Lotte and they paused and stared at each other before staring at Sucy. "Is it?" Akko asked.

Sucy waved them off dismissively. "It's not important. What's important is—"

"What did you put in the potion Sucy?" Akko said rather loudly, the strictness of a teacher lacing her voice.

The duo wasn't surprised that Akko scolded her in a voice like that. She says it like that whenever they, more specifically Lotte, were doing something stupid and suspicious and tries to find out with strict and ethical means of a teacher. And it usually does the trick. Sucy sighs, stands up from her work space and opens the window. She points outside.

"It's a plant called Achllea, a plant that only grows in the presence of a Philosopher's stone and underneath shaded and muddy areas. I found one while we were practicing ring passes," Sucy explains and Akko peers into the window to see Sucy's finger pointing at the laboratories. "Apparently, its pollen from one flower can generate enough magical power to last maybe ten minutes," she continues and pulls her finger back. "It's also pretty poisonous so if you see blue weed flowers, don't get too near it. It'll lose your sense of mind for hours."

Akko looks at the vial in her hand. Knowing Sucy, she probably did explore the area and had probably studied extensively on the ingredient. As a thought on why hadn't the school warned them about those plants, her mind directed to the main matter. "But are you sure you detoxified this? You usually never tackle flowers."

Sucy shrugs. "Probably. It's new but it can be treated like a mushroom. I hope." That's not very reassuring. "I just discovered it so that thing is just a prototype. But," the pale witch ducks underneath her bed and with a grunt, she takes out a newly caught rat in a cage. "We can try it on this one to see if it's ready. I'm pretty confident in my experiment."

Akko hums in thought. Sucy had explained much so she wasn't going to try and disagree with her teammate's ideas. The brunette pulls the cork and a scent that oddly resembles hydrochlric acids that she used for her experiments back in middle school spread around the room. Cringing at the pungent smell, she tilts the vial down, very careful on only dripping a drop of magenta onto the rat's head.

The rat flinched as the liquid hit and Sucy stands next to her and they both carefully studied the critter, waiting for any signs that the potion had worked. So far, after waiting a few moments, they stand up and glanced at each other.

"Nothing happened," reported Akko the obvious. "Does the book say anything else about the plant? Perhaps side-effects that may have hindered the initial potion?"

Sucy shakes her head. "Not that I read of," she says. "It's poisonous because its pollens have a type of magical energy that creatures can't stand. So for good measure, I put a strong detoxifying mushroom in there," She places her hand on her chin. "However, I didn't really realize how strong or weak that energy is. Maybe it was too much?"

 _THUD!_

Lotte had finally reached her limit from hanging upside-down from the bed and had landed on the floor, making the duo flinch and making the rat jump to the roof.

That… wasn't a hyperbole the rat really did rocket to the roof.

"AH!" The duo shrieked and Lotte groaned.

Akko and Sucy, after casting a quick annoyed glance at their fallen teammate, turned to the cage that landed with a crash before looking up and gaped at the ceiling where they could see an evident crack from the impact the rat made with the cage it brought. It wasn't big, so that was a relief, but what had struck Akko was the impossible height a normal rat couldn't have jumped to.

They look down at the rat. "That… wasn't what I had in mind," Sucy said, eyes wide at the surprising effect her potion had just made on the critter.

And as if it was scared, the rat shrieked and spun around in the cage before it jumped to its left with surprisingly strong hind legs, dragging the cage along with it and crashed into the door. The rat went limp at the foot of it.

' _Oh dear,'_ Akko thinks and was about to pick up the rat cage but as if to deliver the final blow, Amanda burst open the door, sending the caged rat crash to the other wall violently.

"Uh, hey guys!" Amanda said frantically, oblivious of the fact that she just rammed through their room boisterously and sent their test subject into another shock.

"Aw, the rat!" Sucy squealed and went to fetch the test subject that had rose to life and started to shriek and go berserk again.

Akko sighs and from the corner of her eye, she sees Lotte slowly pull herself up and sat on the brunette's bed. "Is there anything we can help you with, Amanda?" Lotte asks, scratching her head.

Amanda went inside. "Uh, yeah, I need terrible help. Have you guys seen the Shooting Star anywhere?"

Akko's brows shot upwards in confusion. Lotte sat straighter and Sucy looks up from the jumpy rat. "Didn't you have it an hour ago?"

"I did! I went out to practice a bit on the courtyard but some classmates wanted some help so I propped it up on a column and when I came back for it, it was gone!" Amanda exclaimed and she paced around the room, her hand running through her hair. "I asked them where it went but they didn't have a single clue."

Akko went to place her hands on the frantic O'Neill's shoulders. "Look, do you think they might've played a prank on you? Perhaps they took it and just lied about it."

Amanda shakes her head. "Avery may be a bit much sometimes, but she isn't the kind to play those tricks. And besides, they were the only ones who were there by the time I got out to practice and they all seemed present around me last time I remembered."

Lotte continued scratching her head. "Okay, okay. Did you inform your team?"

"Jasminka is out there with Cons with her stanbots. We've been looking for the past ten minutes now. Please guys, help." Amanda pleaded her voice full of dread and helplessness.

Akko didn't need for her to repeat. She glances at the clock on her desk. Nearly six. Not yet curfew. Everybody is probably in the cafeteria.

She rips her robe from the closet and buttoned hurriedly. "Alright, Lotte, you'll come with me and help Amanda find her broom. Sucy, you stay here and work on the potion."

Amanda sighs in relief as the red team had quickly agreed. Lotte takes her navy cloak from one of the bed post and buttoned up before the trio went off. Sucy went back to catering the startled rat in the cage.

* * *

"Any luck?" Akko asks as Lotte approaches her, waiting for the blonde's report from the bathrooms near the courtyard. Ten minutes had passed since they started to looking for the dang broom.

Lotte shrugs and shakes her head. "Nothing."

"Me neither." The brunette sighs and crosses her arms. "Do you think it's been taken by the fearies and the broom is now in the hands of the faculty?"

"Nah, the fearies know more about the missing Shooting Star thingamajig. If they see one loitering here, they wouldn't even care."

"How would you know?"

Lotte looks at her in the eyes. "They don't know that Amanda has one and might probably think it's a sham. And if they stole it, they _know_ the professors will have their asses so they won't risk taking it."

Akko blinks before biting her bottom lip and nodding. "Okay, but what about the faculty?"

"Equally oblivious," the Fin waves the question off. "The only way they'll know is either they saw it, which is unlikely, or the students told them, but most of our classmates don't give a rat's ass about us or our brooms."

"Fair enough." Akko thinks for a bit. "Let's try the laboratories?"

"Ughhh… Too far!" groaned Lotte. "Why do you think it's there anyway?"

"Constanze is looking in the forest near Moon Tower and Jasminka and Amanda are searching in entrance gates. They think a broom like Shooting Star has wandered that far, and though irrational, it's not like we have any other leads. They already covered the courtyard so it's useless to stay here." Akko argued.

Lotte frowns as she sees her eyeing the statue in the middle of the field. The brunette's brows furrow for a second before she turns and starts for the laboratories. They were quiet along the way.

The trip there had been quick and they unknowingly wandered over to their practice place.

"You sure it's here?" Lotte asked, looking around and remembering their recent fall this morning from their brooms and ultimately breaking Amanda's and in turn, led her to the broom that was currently missing.

Akko merely replied with, "It's just to cover ground."

After a few more minutes of walking around and peering into bushes occasionally, Akko stops and freezes on her feet, as if she had just looked into Medusa's eyes. Worried on her leader's sudden pause, Lotte raises a brow and asks, "Hey, Akko—"

"Ssh!"

Lotte's mouth zipped tight as Akko tilted her head a bit to throw her a be-quiet look, her eyes flashing with slight annoyance, index finger on her lips. They wait for a moment. Lotte motions for Akko to say anything but her eyes were elsewhere, on the forest, scrutinizing it carefully before Lotte hears it.

There!

A loud rustle of a grass, like an animal in the vicinity.

They freeze again. Lotte whips her head behind and up front. She was miffed. What could possibly be lurking just outside of a building of Luna Nova? This academy was fortified with enough defense barriers and spells for it to be even face the thick-headedness of Barbara Parker! Yes, underneath Headmaster Holbrooke, an esteemed grand witch of powerful sorcery, neither critter nor monster can come pass her own defenses, unless summoned.

And unless it was a very, _very_ powerful creature.

Red team waited. No wind howled. It had been a clear day. It was evident it was going to be until night and tomorrow. Akko makes the first move and she crouches low.

Another rustle. It was becoming louder. Closer.

Lotte waits. It probably wasn't anything threatening. But then again, squirrels and rabbits aren't exactly the creatures that can pass by those Holbrooke spells. The Fin began to list off whatever probable creatures there are that can be as small and quiet as a shrub while also being strong enough to pass through those barriers. She doesn't remember much.

Lotte sees Akko's right hand swipe a rock and her fingers fiddled with it. ' _Oh no_ ,' she thinks.

As Akko stood up, Lotte was not far behind in shouting her name to stop what she, the genius girl who was the first to ace Luna Nova's written examination, was going to do.

"Akko, no-!"

The brunette tenses, curled her arms back before swinging her arm full arch and threw the stone the same place where another rustle of a bush was about to erupt.

Then silence. Nothing moved and Lotte, after waiting for a moment, carefully walked over to Akko, still watching the spot where the brunette had thrown the rock.

After waiting for a few more seconds, the Fin turned to her. "What was it?"

Akko eyes had still yet to leave the bushes. "I don't know," she says, words she rarely say. She starts to approach the shrubs, and Lotte follows suit. Taking a handful of branch, Akko yanks it from one side and inspects over the area. Lotte peers in and found neither any animal nor creature lurking about.

Lotte grew baffled. Was the creature that quick to flee but still be quiet? Strange, considering how noisy it was when it was slithering through the bushes.

She sees Akko's chocolate-kissed head perk up. "Hey, is that…?" She starts to sprint over to a large oak tree a few yards away and Lotte, not wanting the girl to do any more stupid things, followed her quickly. Lotte turns to where Akko had seen and among the leaves and twigs she sees a golden end of a feather.

"Shooting Star!?" Lotte cries, her eyes widening in surprise as the brunette bends down and picks up the red broom. She takes off her glasses to blink if it was true and yes, they had indeed found Shooting Star.

Akko studies it carefully. "How did it get here?" she asks, equally baffled as Lotte.

"Maybe the thing before carried it here?" Lotte suggests, shrugging in her robes.

While they should be relieved that they've finally found the missing broom, the fact that they had found it on the forest floor behind the laboratories was strange, and remembering it came from the Last Wednesday Society store, it became even stranger. The only thing that would've made sense is that the thing that lurked around before was the same thing that brought it here.

Akko bit her lip, brows furrowed, and Lotte sees the confusion in her eyes as she stares into the wood of the Shooting Star. "… Perhaps…" Akko mutters, frowning before she stood up straighter and went to the clearing. "Come on. We should give this to Amanda first."

Lotte agrees with that. She wanted to leave here as soon as possible before any other monsters pop out and scare their wits. As the Fin was about to follow her, she felt her nose itch. Lotte widens her eyes and she tensed up before sneezing. " _Achoo_!"

Akko looks back at her. "Are you okay?"

Lotte wipes her nose with a sleeve. "Yeah, I'm alright." She looks left and right and finds a blue flower rooted about ten feet away to her right. She sniffs and scowls at it. "Just some stupid flower." She follows her to the clearing.

* * *

After relaying Amanda on how they found the Shooting Star and the strange rustling on the shrubs behind the laboratories, the redhead was staring at the broom, no less confused than them. The green team was back in their dorm, and Amanda had invited the red team duo inside.

Lotte was stuffing her cheeks with a pack of marshmallows that Jasminka produced and Akko and Amanda watched as Constanze carefully produced a jar of white powder from a drawer on her desk. With a scoop of a hand, Constanze throws the handful of powder down on the stick of the Shooting Star with little grace, and Akko coughs a bit as the powder reached her face. The little mechanic takes out a brush and starts sweeping away the remaining powder.

When that was done, Constanze put her gloved hands on her chin, studying the fingerprints to see who the previous people had held it.

"So, Cons?" Amanda asks, inching forward. "See anything?"

Constanze was still for a moment before she jumps out of her chair, goes to the bed opposite of the bunk one, lifts one corner of her mattress up and surprises Akko as she slams a fist into a button and her bed flips over to reveal a vault. She lifts it up with a bit of difficulty but did it and revealed a slide leading to darkness. Constanze leaps into it without hesitation and the red team was staring at where the little mechanic had disappeared.

Akko starts pointing at the slide and turns to Amanda, who didn't even look surprised. "Um—"

"Don't worry, she'll be back." Amanda cuts her off without Akko finishing the question and she flashes a small grin at her.

Still a bit stunned, Akko turns back to the slide and flinched when the bed returns back to its original position before the drawer next to the closet behind them shifted, letting loose a loud sound. Akko almost flinched again as the drawer moved to the side to reveal another secret door and Cosntanze came back, one hand carrying what may look like a scanner with screen on its side and on the other, a tablet.

Akko stared, surprised at all the secret entrances that the Green team had at their disposal. As the brunette was thinking what those doors could lead to, Constanze steps up near her and shows her the tablet.

Akko blinked, unsure on what the girl wanted her to do before Amanda told her, "She's telling you to place your hand on the screen." Akko, with slight hesitation, presses her left hand on the tablet.

The screen came to life and scanned her entire palm. Akko pauses nervously and glances at Amanda, who barely shrugs back. When the tablet beeped, Cosntanze retrieved the tablet and starts to fiddle with it, walking back to the desk where the Shooting Star is. Sitting back down, she arranged the tablet to the side and like an officer handling a gun, Constanze presses a trigger near the handle and a red light poured out of the device.

Starting from the arrow-like point of the broom, she carefully and steadily glides down to the base. After a small moment, the screen beeped into life, revealing who the owner of the fingerprint was.

First it was Amanda, whose print was about two inches away from the pointed end. Two inches more, Akko's name was revealed. Well, she did hold it about five minutes ago. The names shifted in the duration of the scan; Amanda, Akko, Amanda, Akko, Amanda. Naturally, the middle of the broom had more prints and at the broom's feathery end, almost nothing.

When Constanze was finished, she studies the broom for a while before she takes the remote control of her Stanbot beside her and the robot came to life. " _No other fingerprints! No other fingerprints_!" It says with a swing of its small arms.

This makes it more confusing. Akko shakes her head and asks, "Are you sure?"

Constanze nods confidently, and the brunette hears Amanda sigh. "Damn…" She runs a hand through her red hair. "That person sure knows how to erase all of their tracks."

"Well, at least its back to you now, right?" Lotte chirps from her spot on Jasminka's bed. "I mean, it could've been worse. You could've really lost it and never get it back."

Amanda's concerned face softens very slowly, and she grins at the blonde. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She pauses for a while, as if contemplating something.

Akko stares at her, wondering what may be going on in her mind—

 _ **Grumble…**_

The green team looked up in surprise. Lotte was snickering on her spot, her shoulders squared as she suppressed her laugh while Akko flushed red. Amanda, after a blinking at the red team's leader going pink, laughs and tells them to go on ahead to the cafeteria.

* * *

"Ow," Lotte mumbles as she suddenly smacks her head against a column, and Sucy turns her head back to her. The blonde rubs her forehead, quite a daze. It's been a long day and this may be the fourth time she hit her head now.

Lotte nearly stumbles forward but Sucy takes a strong hold of her wrist. "You good?" she asks, tilting her head.

Lotte rubs her temples. "Y… Yeah, I'm good. I've been bashing my head since this morning." She flashes a grin at her.

Sucy returns it with a small smile and the red team gathered around their table obediently. Most of the other students had gone back in their dorms, perhaps finalizing their plans for tomorrow's race or just to sleep early. The search before had obviously cost the red team time but at least the cafeteria was up for dinner from six to eight.

The Fin sits down groggily and she reaches up a hand to rub her eyes and pinch the bridge of her nose. Akko frowns at her. "Are you sure you're alright, Lotte?" she asks, concerned. "You're acting like you have a migraine. Do you need to lie down?"

"Naw, I'm good," she says and takes off her glasses to rub it clean. "Just feeling woozy."

Akko waits for her to say more but when it was clear Lotte didn't want to talk the brunette stands up and collects her lunch; a breathy chicken salad, a small roast beef sandwich with a simple vanilla pudding for dessert.

Lotte stood up next, who was followed by Sucy. As Akko waited, she attacks her sandwich, and as she was almost done with it, her teammates came back with their own dinner and they talked over the table.

It took nearly ten minutes of discussion for Sucy to convince Akko that the potion she made was the only chance they'll ever win the race. Akko was adamant for a few minutes, but when the name Chariot was uttered, it almost didn't take as long as Sucy had thought it to be. Lotte didn't join in; she was fiddling with her barbecue and potatoes, looking like she lost appetite.

When Sucy had argued that if they were to win, surely Professor Du Nord will finally notice her, and that if anything, the first placer will be bound to be noticed by her, Akko had agreed, albeit reluctantly.

"Fine," Akko finally says, holding up her hands, her cheeks flushing. "I'll do it. But if this plan backfires, so help me, Sucy—"

"Relax!" cackles Sucy, knowing that if by any way was the esteemed redheaded professor was part of something it would take no effort to convince the brunette about joining. "It won't. I've already checked the potion out. It's still flawed by only affecting the jumping prowess of a broom though, but outside of that, it's good."

"Why is the effect still there?"

Sucy shrugs. "I neither have the ingredient nor any more Achllea. If I go out now, Night Patrol would have me by the neck. I only toned the potion down so that it doesn't launch you off to space. It'll just be like bungee- jumping," Sucy studies her suddenly tense gaze. "… You… have gone bungee-jumping, right?"

Akko bites her lip, her gaze to Lotte, who was still pretty out of it. "I haven't," she admits after a long time. "But I'm sure I'll be fine. Just as long it doesn't have any side-effects?"

Sucy smiles and shakes her head. "No other side-effects." She repeated.

Akko nods, satisfied, and she picks up her tray of empty plates. "Good enough for me," She stands up and addresses to the both of them. "I'll be at the library for a while so you two should go back to the dorm. And, Sucy, please escort Lotte and make sure she doesn't get her head hit again."

Sucy half-heartedly salutes. "I won't let her lose another brain cell."

"I'm not helpless, dammit!" Lotte cries, coming back to earth and pounds the table with her fist.

Other students who heard it sneered at them but they ignored it. With a roll of her eyes directed at Lotte, Akko leaves and heads for the library.

* * *

"— _and its last track still being researched'_." Akko reads aloud, her eyes studying an old newspaper she had looked into.

Its paper was obviously old, almost five years at least, and the brunette is afraid if she holds it wrong, it'll tear quickly. The date emphasized it, and the last picture of the legit Shooting Star making it on the front picture with a big, bold title above it saying, 'SHOOTING STAR: SEARCH IN PROGRESS'.

The disappearance was indeed true but the impact hadn't been as grand as it should have been on the people of magical society. After founding only two or three articles about the disappearance of the broom, Akko concludes that it seems after a month, the case hadn't been so popular anymore.

Akko gently puts it down. It had indeed been a sudden disappearance. The last thing that the Magical Society had tracked it down on its path was when it hovering somewhere in Eastern Europe, around the skyline of the country of Moldova on summer before it had been wiped away from the face of the earth.

The magical energy it left as its trial had vanished also, making it almost impossible for them to track it down as it was one of the few leads they tried to gather. When the case became desperate, it was said that whoever found it shall be rewarded handsomely, and people got hooked and tried to sell.

Fake sightings, photographs, edited videos, fraud brooms; it was a scam right after another and the fact that there were various other frauds that had been so uniquely close had made the witches lose hope and gave up on it. 'It was old,' one Witch had quoted. 'So it was likely that it had finally reached its limit. All broom does so best just to leave it to rest.'

'Weak argument,' Akko thinks and she leaves the newspapers on the table and went to the history section of the library.

She's currently the only freshmen inside the library at this time and thankfully, the other witches left her alone, leaving her studies at peace.

She finally finds a book about the history and background on the Shooting Star. She pulls it out carefully and her nose itches, the dusts that gathered around it disturbed. She sneezes but at least the book was in her arms.

She checks the front cover; _The Upbringing History Maker: Shooting Star_. She carefully flips over the pages; it was obviously it had only been touched a few times in the past few years.

She reads on about it for an hour. Shooting Star was made nearly the same time as Luna Nova had been found, so about 2200 years ago, at best, and its creators are unknown. Like what Amanda had said, its brush was an elegant cluster of different feathers that came from different mythical creatures, most of it coming from flying monsters, such as griffins, birds, and the occasional dragon. And its wood was… somewhat built same. The stick was not carved from a single tree but multiple kinds that radiated strong magical energy; most of it Akko figured were extinct while the rest were at the brink of it.

There were only a few trees she can recognize. Giant Woods, Blood Fogs, Achleonis, Myria Logs… Pretty much trees that all takes a long time to grow, and it surprised Akko on how most of these were unrelated and yet formed what was be the fastest and strongest broom in existence. She questions how on earth its wood was made from all those different kinds being stuck together but stince there were no records of the creators nor how the wood was made, Akko left it at that.

It didn't say anything about where or how the broom gets its power and energy; the only thing that the book explained was that it generates its own magic. If it's been generating its own magic for hundreds of years then why did it have to disappear now? Then again, it's not like Akko herself has experienced two-thousands years of flying across the globe. Did it plan on retiring? Seems farfetched. However, the man from the shop did say that the Shooting Star had a mind of its own.

She stays in the library until Eight o'clock and she puts the newspaper and books back to where they belong and left.

* * *

The air was warm and the sky had barely any clouds left in sight. It was a beautiful day for Luna Nova, and most senior witches preferred to sleep in on these kinds of Saturdays. But on these occasions where the school actually holds something exciting, the students who weren't joining the race had already picnicked around the school's track, with snacks and food across each teams' sheets, an ecstatic and hyped air surrounding the students.

Diana stretches her legs out, warming up for the 1333rd Broom Relay race which she knew by now that everyone expects her to win. And she doesn't plan the otherwise. As she stood straighter and she grips her broom once more, feeling its narra wood against her touch.

She hears Barbara breathe deeply beside her and Diana gives her a sly smile. "Nervous?"

"As a whore in a church." Barbara said, grinning. She was fidgeting as she handled her broom. "Did you know the participants are going to get interviewed?"

"By who?" Hannah asks, retracting her stretched arms.

"The journalist team," answered Barbara. "Wangari is going to conduct the interviews. And I heard them talk that _Blaytonbury Times_ is going to post an article about this race. "

"Seriously?" Diana mutters, surprised at how much attention this yearly race was getting this year. Rarely did the paper say anything about Luna Nova, and rarely anything this specific.

"Yeah," Barbara said and the loud bell of the school rung across the academy and almost everybody paused.

Upon the newly-built platform in front of the field of the oval track, Professor Nelson landed on the platform, a flawless touch-down and she pulls out her wand. Soon, a massive microphone of light-green energy materialized in front of her.

"Uh, hello, mic tests," she muttered into it. Her voice rung across the field and school perfectly and loudly. "Okay, uh, I'd like to call all participants to the Broom Relay race to now line up on the field. I'll repeat, all participants for the Broom Relay race, please line up on the field now."

Witches, mostly freshmen, obeyed and they all gathered across the field inside the track, teams upon teams lining up by tens. Hannah and Barbara huddled behind Diana, and seven other witches followed. They count almost forty witches on the field. Professor Nelson repeats it a few more times and once she was satisfied with the amount of flyers with brooms out, she stepped away from the edge of the platform.

They waited for a few more moments and Professor Holbrooke finally comes up and announced the opening of the race. The general stuff, greetings, history, rules, etc., the works. And with the way Diana was tapping her shoe against the grass, shuffling her feet every now and then, Hannah and Barbara knew that she wasn't hearing a thing.

The duo also knew, ever since they had befriended her in preschool, that Diana wasn't generally seen as competitive. However, it was in her nature and once she actually gets out and shows all that hidden talent and colors, all they need to worry about are the collateral damaged egos of other witches.

Once Diana takes the ring, these witches should know how to haul ass. They grinned to themselves.

The sight of their smug looks wasn't lost on Sucy, who was a few meters away from the blue team and she rolled her eyes.

* * *

Witches in and out of the school, the witches who are sleeping in the day on the dorms, who are studying in the library, who are relaxing in the gardens, who are eating brunch in the cafeteria, or even those who are hanging about in Blaytonbury, had been anticipating for the 1333rd Broom Relay Race.

And despite the negativity it had received from the preceding weeks about some of the participants, no one could deny that the hype and excitement the race gathered was quite tremendous and, if not, infectious.

Witches peered into their phones, tablets, laptops, most of their screens and logged into Luna Nova's official website. Professor Croix, the one who ran the page, had the event live and most of her robots/cameras were recording and showing everything. From the drone above it showed the track showing nearly forty participants, from the side a roomba that showed the field on ground level, and a camera is even poised by Headmaster Holbrooke's point of view.

"And with that," said Holbrooke finally, her easing, grandmotherly smile gracing her old features. The features of what was once a very beautiful woman. "May the Nine Olde Witches bless you all and this event. I hope everyone the best."

Finally, the announcements were done and the scene switched to a Hawaiian girl with dark skin, boisterous orange hair and a violet visor with the school emblem stitched to one side. She had that professional look of a reporter, with her squared shoulders, controlled gaze, and the microphone underneath her chin.

Wangari was a second-year who made her debut as a junior anchor last year for the race. Suffice to say, she was on for revenge, ready for people to forget her amateur pace from last year and remember her as the new star anchor for Luna Nova.

She greets the audience coolly and rambles for two minutes about the interviews they were about to conduct. A refreshing idea; Professor Chariot had suggested it.

Students who participated were stretching across the field as the half-hour of interviews passed, with Wangari asking them quick and rather repetitive questions. She stayed on one team for less than four minutes. Her job was quick, clean, and people got to give her credit, she'd evoked quite thrilling answers.

Few faces stuck to the students' minds. Most of them were forgotten.

When Diana was on screen and had the microphone up to her nose, the witches practically whistled and cheered. Wangari called her the 'imminent-champion-of-the-academia'. The crowd doesn't know if that was intentional on her part but boy did the other students interviewed after her were heated.

The blue team looked radical. They were aristocrats bred for the cameras, made for smiling, and trained for glamorous replies and quotes; top-notch girls who knew what to say and what to do. Hannah and Barbara shone like twin stars and Diana was a beacon.

The next team that had attracted the audience was the green team. Well, more like Luna Nova's futch sweetheart, Amanda O'Neill. Little attention was given to the German mechanic and gluttonous Russian.

Everybody knew Amanda had admirers; through her kind and soft nature which was contrasted by her rather tomboyish look, it was to no surprise she was eyed by the girls here. And her smirk she displayed on screen only emphasized that. Wangari didn't question her broom.

The next was the other blonde aristocrat from France. Chloe and her team was respected to a certain degree, though not as much as the blue team. They had rich, very rich replies. The cocky ones.

Avery and her team were beautiful. If blue team were the respectable ones, then they were obviously the beauties. Three perfectly hot girls grouped together and are not hopeful on winning the race but rather liked to fly their brooms and get grades. Easy-going girls but obviously bitchy.

Interviews on a few teachers passed by faster; most of the screen time was given to Professor Chariot, who worked for the camera beautifully. Wangari liked her because she just had all the perfect responses to her questions which hyped the students.

Soon after, Professor Nelson announced that their last-minute preparation time was over and told them all to go to their positions.

First leg flyers should be upon the tall platform of the west of the field; second leg flyers go to the small but wide bell tower; and the anchor flyers should go to their positions on the 8th floor of the tall and old Moon Tower.

The cameras followed Wangari who explained the field and rules. Few others angled around the girls who were flying at mediate pace to their positions.

Finally. The race was starting.

* * *

 **B's notes:**

 **Heyyyy, I managed to actually continue this**

 **Anywho, as you guys have noticed, the previous chapter was deleted so I apologize to everyone who expected it but I just felt like it was some random ficlet that didn't bode well and I want to try to make my chapters as organized as possible.**

 **It's already very confusing considering all the takes on the episodes aren't aligned so to make it less confusing, it had to go.**

 **But at least we've got a continuation of the previous chapter that's been left to rot four months ago. Also, a bit of character establishment there and you guys can take it hot or not.**


	9. Chapter 9

Akko tried her best to catch up with all the brooms gliding about but she just couldn't match up. When Professor Nelson had told them to go to their stations, she had about four yards ahead of the other anchor witches but they caught up with almost no effort.

A few moments in, Sucy told her she was going to the other platform now and Lotte said the same thing minutes later. She was the only witch who ran to the lines.

Once she was halfway to the tower, she was sweating, her breath was shallow, and she could feel her back soak in sweat. She wasn't a durable runner that was for sure. She was quick, but after a kilometer sprint without taking a break she might as well collapse. She leapt over hurdles, not run marathons!

However, she continued to run anyway, determined to reach the tower by at least not being dead last.

"Oooh, is the genius Atsuko Kagari _tired_?" The brunette almost trips by the rhetorical question but she quickly regained her balance as the mocking faces of Barbara and Hannah appeared beside her, their chins up, lips curved into smirks, and looking absolutely smug and punchable.

But _of course_ they'd try to mock her here. Weren't they supposed to go to their positions now?

Akko used her sleeve to wipe the sweat that formed on her forehead and ran faster away from them, but they easily glided nearer to her and she scowls.

"Hey, Kagari, do you need a towel?" Hannah asked in a jeering tone.

No, Akko does not, _especially_ from them. But she keeps her tongue and ignores them.

"Looks like it, Han!" Barbara agrees with her and she pulls out her wand. With a crackle of light, a white clothe lands on her hand and she gives Akko a taunting grin. "Here you go, Ack-chu-koo!"

Akko fumed, her face growing tight as they mispronounced her name in such a slurring way before her face got attacked by the clothe that Barbara had thrown at her direction. She yelped, blind on where she was stepping on and she trips, her face landing forward to the ground first and she lets go of her broom. The last thing she heard from them was their laughter.

Akko clenches her teeth, picks herself up from the ground and throws the white clothe far away from her. The herd of anchor witches was farther away now and Hannah and Barbara were gone.

Damn them! Just… _damn_ them! Akko wants to cuss but knew it was uncouth for her to do. So instead, she kicks a rock from the path and pats the dust and grass away from her uniform, fuming and scowling.

When Akko was picking up her broom that had rolled away from her, she hears Amanda's voice from behind her. "Akko!" The brunette turns back and saw Amanda landing a few feet away and she approaches her. "You alright? Saw you trip back there."

Akko just scoffs and pats her sleeves where a little dirt remained. "Yes, I'm fine," she readjusts her cuffs. "It was just Cavendish's cohorts."

"Yeah, well, let them run their mouths. It's now as if they can do much to you in this race." Amanda says and they both stared off into the first witch that had flown towards the tall Moon Tower and landed on one of the balconies. Even from afar, it was no mistaking that long blonde hair.

Akko's ugly scowl became uglier. Amanda noticed this and she grabs her wrist. "C'mon, I'll just fly us there. It'll be quicker."

The brunette was silent for a moment before she agrees with her. Despite the Shooting Star being only made for one witch, Akko had just fitted as she saddled behind Amanda. Indeed, the flight from the ground to there was quick. Faster than what she expected from Amanda's broom to be honest. But perhaps that's just the redhead's talent.

* * *

Sucy glanced at the other twelve witches who were on the platform with their brooms between their legs. They looked rather ready to cut throats, their eyes filled with a sense of determination and fire, gazes straight to the open field and never flitting once to consider the height they were on.

Every participant had their eyes on the notoriety that the race gave away. And they'd stampede anyone who butted in.

But Sucy wasn't scared. Oh no, not _one_ bit. And besides, it's not like she's actually entering here for notoriety. If anything, she wouldn't have hesitated to lose this race hadn't it been for the fact that Professor Lukic was the one giving out the prizes. And Sucy would snag anyone but her team's back in order to get that prize from that old professor's scrawny hands.

She turns back to Professor Nelson who had her finger on the gun's trigger as she stared down the racers with a strict gaze.

For a teacher who looked thin and short underneath her scarves and aviator cap and acted pretty bashful most of the time, the face she held this moment told them that they should not, by all means, should _not_ cross her.

"Witches, prepare your brooms!" She tells them in a tone of a drill sergeant.

Thirteen witches saddled on their brooms obediently. Sucy glanced around and assuring no one was glancing at her, she murmured a spell underneath her breath and glanced from below. Little roots and branches of the dead logs used to make the cheap platform erupted directly beneath the brushes of the brooms and quietly wrapped themselves around it.

"On your marks!"

Sucy fixes her gaze back to the track, smirking a bit. Worked flawlessly.

"Get set!"

Other witches hunched their shoulders and shouted, "Tia Freyre!"

" _GO_!"

The gun shots and Sucy was already gone from the platform. Other racers weren't that quick for a takeoff.

"Hey, what!?"

"Fu—Ah, crap! The hell happened!?"

"Dude, did someone use a spell!?"

"Gah! It's rooted to the ground!"

"Shit, who was it!? I'm gonna crush 'em to a pulp!"

She doesn't hear anymore from them and Sucy quietly pats the spot where she slipped the vial and felt its figure reassure her. No, nobody found out she did it. It was too easy. She'd done this a million times and they still can't figure out what or who hit them. She cackles quietly to herself before she hears a thumping of an engine.

A familiar sort of thumping and Sucy barely recognized it before Constanze overtook her. Sucy's puce hair whipped around her face as the small turbine on the broom's hilt produced gusts of winds. She grabs her hat to keep it planted on her head before she looks at the German again with her mouth open.

Constanze looked over her shoulder and threw Sucy a knowing smile, holding something like wrench before she stuffed it into the bag that she had on her side. With a kick to the pedal, Constanze was already dozens of yards away from her and Sucy bares her fangs in annoyance.

"Should've remembered Cons modified her broom yesterday," Sucy scolded herself and she looks back to see if anyone was on her tail again. After confirming that they were all helpless and clueless as flocks of sheep, she turns back to her front and her eyes shone in a menacing way.

Whatever. Lotte was probably done with the trap for Jasminka. Maybe that'll slow the green team down.

That Russian girl may be solid iron but in face of food, she'll be easily turned. Sucy grinned.

She focuses on staying aloft, and she looks down to see that she was still pretty much fifty feet up. It didn't faze her but it was time consuming and slow. She was tempted to use one of her potions again but she's afraid of the cameras huddling around the air. One mistake and red team is done.

She looks back up and her eye that was nearly covered by her unkempt bangs and focused solely on reaching that little bell tower that came closer each second.

* * *

"Aaand Constanze Amalie von Braunchbank-Albrechtsberger from green team is on the lead!" Wangari said breathlessly. "It's a name that couldn't be said quickly enough before the owner is already on the lead with her mechanical broom. Professor Croix, any comments on your best student's inventions?"

Croix, who was surveying with Wangari on the hot-air balloon that floated above the tracks, looks up from her tablet and hums a bit. "Well, it is a fine engine but it's still a prototype. I'm not sure if its core can take that much strain being in such a height. But, I will say this, it's quite a fast broom modified by magitronics. And that enough says a lot about it."

Wangari regards the answer with respect. She took magictronics in last year and was one of the better students who greatly admired the subject. It definitely widened her sources for the paper and it made a better improvement upon the journalism team than expected.

She comments on the creepy witch who was on the second, and announces the third was yet to be determined.

* * *

Lotte's eyes widen in surprise at the jet that was Cosntaze, whose figure was closing pretty fast to the bell tower where the second anchor flyers were waiting.

She bites her inner cheek and glances at the path Sucy laid out on where to put all the hanging donuts and she crosses her fingers behind her. Let's hope Jasminka takes the bait…

The Russian girl gingerly laid out her broom with the spell muttered out and she saddled on it with her arm extended out to grab the ring. With a rush of wind, it was already on her arm and Constanze was gone.

 _Holy shit_ , that was fast. The other witches gaped at the speed the small German had raced towards here. Barely a minute in and green team was already on the second course. Jasminka was off and gliding into the forest at a fast but leisured pace and she disappears into the woods.

" _Perkele_ ," Lotte curses under her breath. She tapped on her boots impatiently on the old brick floor and she sees Sucy closing in a few moments later.

The other witches started to whisper among themselves, asking what took their teammates so long and what happened to them. It was unusual for a slow witch like Sucy, whom they knew wasn't the flying type, to be second. They expected either Hannah England or Blair Callahan to be coming second. But red team?

"Bullshit," Lotte hears Barbara mutter and she smirks to herself.

"Sucy!" Lotte shouted and waved her arms around. "Over here! C'mon, Jasna probably got like, a minute ahead of us!"

Sucy widens her eyes by the way her mouth moved, she looked like she was cussing. Akko would not like that. She reaches out the ring and says, "Lotte!"

"Yep!" As Sucy passes by above her, she jumps up, snatches the bronze ring form her hand and yells at her broom, " _Tia Freyre!"_

She quickly jumped on it as her broom floated a few feet off the ground and she zoomed away. As she was taking off, Lotte shot a smug look at Barbara, whose face turned into an angry shade of red upon seeing it. The whisperings turned into cries of disbelief.

"And the second is Lotte Yansson from Red team! Your average-looking every-day, nerdy girl with thick glasses is now gaining in and is starting to close the gap!" Wangari says from above.

' _Man, screw her,_ ' Lotte thinks as she scowls at her comment about her and disappears into the forest.

The Hawaiian reporter glances on her phone and announces, "And on the lead of the second course is Jasminka Antonenko from Green team, the food fighter hailing from Russia! Look at that dignified side-saddle!"

Sucy ignores the balloon above and stares at where Lotte had flown off. Then she looks over her shoulder, still floating mid-air. That root-conniving potion wasn't going to last long by now. At least one witch had probably pulled one of them off.

* * *

Indeed, the root-conniving spell hadn't worked as glamorously as one would have thought. Hannah, after cursing out the spell and pulling off one more pull to snag her broom away from the roots, quickly mounted her broom and shouted, " _Tia Freyre!"_

"Oh!" Croix mutters as she saw this and taps a few buttons before an image of the first station was shown again.

Wangari notices this and saw the redhead from blue team taking off, who was quickly followed by the rest of the witches. "Now this is an exciting revelation, fearies and witches! The first leg flyers that were held up before are now on the track again and are up with high speeds!" She looks back down at the second leg flyers who were sighing in relief. "Leg flyers, be ready!"

* * *

Lotte looks around the thick woods for any signs of Russian girl but as she dodged her third branch, she can unfortunately affirm that Jasna had indefinitely gained more distance from them than what Lotte had initially assumed.

"Shoot," The Fin mutters underneath her breath and tries to look for the path where she remembers stringing the donuts that Sucy had told her to hang on branches.

She strayed off the track for a bit and tries to rack her brain on where she first strung a donut. She remembers it being hung a dozen yards off where the bell was and—

There! A string!

A sense of shrewdness grew in Lotte's chest and she quietly chuckles to herself. Nope, Jasminka wasn't ahead of them, oh no. Probably gone off to follow that donut trial and there's no stopping her. Knowing Sucy, she probably put something on that stuff to make them deadly irresistible for Jasna to turn away.

She quickly flew into the track again, all the while dodging the thick trees and overgrown roots, careful not to crash into them.

* * *

"And now green team and red team are on the second course of the track! Packed through the forest and the Moon Tower is barely half a mile away! Professor Croix, you said you were one of the participants of the Broom Relay race nearly ten years ago, yes?"

Croix didn't like where this was going. "Y—Yes, what about it?"

"Were you an anchor or leg flyer?"

"Why, I was an anchor."

"What did your old teammates say about the second course?"

She thinks for a bit for a proper reply. "I could remember them saying it was a very complicated path. If you lose your focus in there, you're bound to get hit by a tree."

* * *

Lotte hears a twig snap and she looks over her shoulder, thinking it was the monster from yesterday's search for the Shooting Star. "Who-!?"

She felt her face getting slapped by the bark of a pine tree and she falls off from her broom, groaning.

One of the robotic cameras finally caught up to her and showed the whole thing. They snapped another twig again, unbeknownst to them.

* * *

"Like… that," Croix mutters as Wangari peered in to see her tablet.

The students around the track guffawed. Professor Nelson who flew a few yards away from the hot-air balloon sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she tucked her little phone back into her robes.

Miss Yansson could stand back up, there's no worrying about that.

* * *

One minute.

Two.

Three.

Five minutes had passed and Diana was getting impatient. She leaned on the railings of the open balcony and looks over the forest underneath them and she sees no sign of Barbara bursting out to deliver the bronze ring to her.

She knew the second track would take long but _come on_. It was just, what, two acres of wood. It's not easy to come out there but Diana had expected Barbara to nail the track considering she'd gone worse. But she buries the doubt in her mind. No, Barbara can and will ardently nail this track. She may have an enormous ego but what bloated it were her achievements and she narrowly deserves it.

So Barbara _will_ appear. Diana just has to be patient.

She looks over the other twelve anchor witches and she cranes her neck a bit to see inside the room that led to the balcony. Most witches were waiting on outside and leaned on the railing like her, enjoying the view and wind, while about two or three went in for the shade. Nobody dared to go down or up the stairs. A lone roomba camera floated above them, its lenses squeezing in any sort of picture they could get.

Inside, Akko and Amanda were standing by the wall, knowing that it would take some more time before one of their teammates would flash by and give them their bronze rings. Amanda ogled at the Shooting Star, feelings its wood against her palm. She was still admiring the beauty of it.

Akko was worried that if her stare gone longer, she would start kissing the thing and she did not want to see such a sight.

Quietly, she pulled out her phone from her robes and logged into the Luna Nova page to see how the race was going. A live footage of some dense part of the forest ran, the camera probably flying by. A few seconds later, the cameras finally got her. Akko sees Lotte on the screen, on her broom with dirt on her robes, and as she narrowly dodged another tree trunk she gave the camera a small grin and showed it the bronze ring that hung from her left wrist.

Akko's face lit up as she sees her teammate and as Wangari and Professor Croix made commentaries on her agility and the track and whatnot, the image shifted to fly behind Lotte and Akko sees that her teammate was nearly at the end of the forest. Soon enough, they were out and the image of the New Moon Tower was seen; all high and mighty, and its appearance told Akko that it was going to be seconds before it would be her turn to take the ring.

She gasped, the sound making Amanda look up, and she quickly tucked her phone back. She dug into her pockets again and pulled out the potion that Sucy had made for her. As Akko was about to touch the cork to pull it out, she paused, and the weight of the potion suddenly came to her.

' _What am I doing?_ ' she thinks, staring at the magenta potion with a worried gaze. Should… should she really do… _this_? _Cheating_? Akko felt her chest weigh with guilt. Her parents taught her better. The professors here taught her better. She shouldn't do this… should she? All for Professor Chariot's attention?

Somebody grabs her wrist and Akko's instinct makes her gaze snap to her side quickly. She saw Amanda just nodding at the potion, like she understood. Slowly, Akko pulls away with a suspicious gaze and Amanda says, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

The brunette furrowed her brows, still locking gazes with the redhead before she pulled out the cork. As she did, a puff of carbon came out and hissed into her face and a strong smell of horrible herbal and cleaning solution came out. Akko gagged and held the potion away from her face.

Great, she smells like the potion now.

The Shooting Star which Amanda propped beside her wiggled on its spot but both witches left it unnoticed.

Amanda chuckles on the side and Atsuko glances at her before pulling her wits and poured the potion down to the brush. The broom became drenched of magenta color as the rest of the liquid was poured out and emptied the vial.

The duo watched her broom lightly glow a bit, shuddering before it stood still and Akko nods. The potion was in effect. No turning back now. She puts the remaining glass back into her robes.

" _AKKO!"_ The call of her name alerted the brunette and she looks outside to see the other anchors staring the left railings with wide eyes.

Atsuko smiles a bit and turns to Amanda who smirked at her. "I'll see you at the finish line," she told her.

Amanda only rolled her eyes. "Don't try to hold your breath."

She shot a small smile at Amanda and Akko quickly dashed out with her broom and she peers over the railings.

Lotte, on her broom with her robes decked with twigs, leaves and dirt and her glasses smudged with dust, showed Atsuko the bronze ring. She looked nothing sort of graceful but the triumphant grin and proud eyes she showed beyond her glasses screamed louder than anything.

Atsuko cups her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Lotte! Throw it up!"

Lotte's eyes widen in realization and she tosses the ring up to her. Atsuko ran to the edge of the balcony and jumped over it, placing the broom between her legs and she curls her arms around it. She extends an arm and deftly caught the ring. " _Tia… Freyre!_ " she yells and pulled the broom so its brush could face the ground.

Her heart drummed in her ribcage as and she feels the broom shudder underneath her, feeling the wind sail around her face and she gripped the wood so hard her knuckles turned white. She glances down a bit and saw the brick pavement beneath her becoming closer.

The terror of falling from a building that she had the day before came back and made her grip upon her broom tighter. She shut her eyes and the feeling of dread returned, already doubting this plan despite Sucy showing her how she should control the broom hours before. Atsuko braced for the impact.

Then the broom landed deftly on the ground, surprising the brunette with the careful landing and she glanced down at the brush, its sticks bending but not breaking. The sight made her widen her eyes and her face slowly broke into a grin. Atsuko laughed a bit.

Wh—What was she afraid of again? She shouldn't have doubted Sucy, of course she shouldn't! She would never let Akko fall down to her death without a good reason and—

The broom bounced back up like a rocket and Akko nearly screamed.

Back above the balcony, Diana was startled, looking over the balcony to see what happened and wondering _what the fuck_ was the brunette thinking. Was she okay? Holy shit, she literally _jumped_ off the balcony, is she-

"Is she dead?" Diana hears Sola asks the thoughts that roamed in the heiress's head. As if to answer her question, Atsuko was up on their level again, her arms and legs tangled around her broom in a strong grip, eyes wide with fear and her other hand grabbing her hat tightly so it wouldn't fly off.

Diana and Akko's eyes meet for a split second, surprising the heiress but the brunette was gone just as quickly as she appeared.

"Guess not," Sola muttered as about four witches peered around her to see Atsuko doing… whatever she was doing back on the ground.

Her broom was jumping around in a similar manner of a frog, the brush bending back before leaping up at their height. Atsuko didn't scream though her pale look said she looked just about to.

After a few more jumps to make sure Atsuko's stomach wasn't going to betray her, she takes a deep breath and she looks down again. One more jump and she tilted the hilt of her broom to the direction of the track.

The track was filled with dirt walls and bulging hills that gone for a few dozen yards and the next one was the strangely dense forest with uneven trees. Akko stares at it carefully and she gulps.

This was going to be one heck of broom ride.

* * *

Croix stares at the image of Miss Kagari on the screen slowly bouncing away with her broom and onto the third track. It was unprecedented for the red team to be on the lead and judging by how angry the anchor flyers looked, the end of this race wasn't going to be pretty.

" _That_ just happened!" wailed Avery from her spot on the balcony. "What the fu—"

"Language, Avery!" Rina told her sternly.

Amelia cried, "Hey, what's the big deal!? What's taking our leg flyers so long!?"

Witches complained and complained and Wangari says, "Looks like the anchor witches are getting pretty uptight now. Red team's very own Atsuko Kagari, the book-smart genius hailing from Japan, is now on the lead and there is no one there to gain on her tail!"

"Maybe," Croix smiles and she presses a button. Another live image from another floating roomba in the forest appears. "But, let's not have the red team get their hopes up yet."

"Oh!" Wangari peers into her phone. "There's a comeback! Green team's Jasminka Antonenko is turning up fast and is now swerving up onto the tower."

As if on cue, another figure on a broom emerged from the forest and Jasminka quickly leveled herself up on the balcony, and unexpectedly she did not looking like she was stumped on some place. She looked rather clean and there was minimal dirt on her shoes.

Amanda quickly dashed outside to the balcony and she looked over the railings to see her teammate rapidly approaching her. Yes! She grins big and waves an arm around to signal the Russian to hasten her pace.

Jasminka quickly flew up at her height and she gives her the ring. "What took you?" Amanda asks as she takes it and jokingly said, "Were there donuts on the track or what?"

Jasminka opened her mouth to say something but after a thought, she opted not to. Instead, she just gave her an uneasy smile and shrugged.

Amanda didn't mind nor did she care about her friend's little reply. Right now, the race was all what she had in mind.

Quickly mounting on the Shooting Star, she yelled, " _Tia Freyre!"_

However, the moment Amanda even floated two feet off the ground, the broom suddenly froze. Amanda looks down at the Shooting Star, confused. A few more moments passed and she waits for the broom to answer her. The others were staring expectantly. "Um," she nudges it lightly. " _Tia freyre_?"

The next few seconds became a blur. Amanda disappeared, leaving a loud cloud of dust behind the spot where she was previously floating and the other witches cried in surprise and had to grab their hats so it wouldn't fall off.

The Shooting Star barreled upwards with such unexpected speed that Amanda screamed. "AAAHHH!"

It shot upwards towards the tallest point of the tower and Amanda saw the faintest glow of the Philosopher's Stone before it spun in circles around the sharp tip of the tower. She screams louder, her grip upon the broom rigid as it can be, feeling dizzy after a few more seconds of rapid spinning and Amanda, for the first in a very, _very_ long time, felt nauseous from a broom ride.

Then the broom abruptly dropped down, its arrow-like point nose-diving back to the balcony. Shooting Star was not listening to her and turning it to another direction was impossible; it was stern and unbending on her hold and moving it would be like trying to bend an iron wrench.

It was heading straight back to the balcony where all of the witches were staring up at her with wide, frightened eyes. Judging by the speed it was going, it was not going to change direction very soon.

Then Amanda realized; she was going to _die_.

A very small and rational voice in her head that had miraculously survived the dizziness and nausea quickly screamed for the redhead to let go.

She does and closed her eyes. The instant her hands released the wood of the broom she felt something pull on the back of her robes, saving her from an impending doom of falling into the hard ground.

Amanda blinks her eyes open a few moments after confirming that she wasn't going to die. Slowly, she looks up to see half a dozen of Professor Croix's roombas floating around her, two of which seizing the back of her uniform and one came down and made her sit on it. Her hat was blown away but that was the least of her concerns.

What the hell just happened?

She takes shallow breaths before looking down, her heart racing against her ribcage.

The Shooting Star was still going down at a dangerous speed.

Diana blinks as the Shooting Star barreled down on them and she whisks out her wand, ready to yell out a spell to disintegrate the broom into ashes but as the Shooting Star was almost ten feet away, just in her spell's reach, it changed directions and was now travelling overhead of them, leaving a squall of gust in its wake, eliciting another scream from the witches around her.

The heiress throws an arm over her eyes and as the winds subsided, she looks back at where the Shooting Star was heading to.

The third track.

Diana suddenly remembers Atsuko and she pales.

" _What by Merlin's name was that!?"_ Wangari's voice screamed from above them and she looks up to see the wide-eyed reporter staring at them along with Professor Croix, who was fiddling with another tablet with clear panic in her eyes.

Croix's roombas safely delivered Amanda back to the balcony. As they lowered her, Diana noticed the American looking pretty pale. Jasminka quickly went over to her and slung her left arm over her shoulder after she almost stumbled forward.

Professor Nelson, who saw the entire fiasco, worriedly goes down to their spot and dismounts from her broom. "Miss O'Neill!" Amanda looks up at her. "What happened up there? Was your broom cursed or some kind?!"

Amanda shakes herself out of her stupor. "Uh, I don't know," she says and looks at the bronze ring that hung from her wrist. "When I yelled out the flying spell, it just kind of paused for a moment before going… that. I don't know what caused it."

Professor Nelson was knitting her brows in confusion. Diana turned and stared with some other witches at where the Shooting Star was flying off. It was awfully fast. Could… Could that actually be—?

"Hey, what happened here?"

" _SHIT!"_ Diana jumps and turns to Barbara who apparently arrived, and like Lotte, her robes were gashed and dirty though not as prominent. "Christ, Barb, do we need to get you a bell!?"

Barbara gave her a small grin but her face quickly hardened. "Sorry, but seriously, what happened? Did Amanda's broom backlash on her or something?"

"I don't know," Diana takes the bronze ring from her. "But I'm going to follow the thing after I complete the race." She mounts her broom, yells, " _Tia Freyre!"_ and Diana speeds off, her eyes upon the Shooting Star that turned into a dot in the distance.

Amanda noticed this and her bearings came back. The race. The race! She ignored Professor Nelson who grilled her on what happened and her eyes caught Jasminka's broom behind her. "Jasminka," she whispers. The Russian looks up and Amanda asks, "Can I borrow your broom? I need to get Shooting Star back."

Professor Nelson apparently heard it and she widens her eyes. "What!? No, Miss O'neill, you will not—"

Too late. Amanda already snatched Jasminka's broom from her hands the moment she even presented it to her and she mounted it quickly. In a similar fashion of Atsuko's take-off, she jumped off the balcony, ignored the surprised gasps from the other students, and shouted the spell, " _Tia Freyre!"_

This time her take-off went on without a hitch.

* * *

As the broom steadily jumped across the next block of dirt that stood over eight feet tall, Atsuko was beginning to smile. It became easy to control the broom now, though she was still uncomfortable at the sheer idea that if she lets go, she'll fall and break her head; which was why her grip on her broom was a vise.

However, after a few minutes of continuous jumping, it just became like trying to ride a bike that was bouncing on its back wheel and all she had to do was to turn the iron hilt and the broom will go whichever direction she wants. It was kind of fun, she realized after making the gap between her and the tower more than sufficient.

Then she remembers this was begotten by cheating through one of her roommate's potions and she felt immensely guilty. But it was done now. If anything, she should just win the race, if it makes her feel any better.

Atsuko focuses on her broom. The rhythm of the leaps had its own sort of bounds, but after a while Atsuko was used to it. If anything, she felt like a frog; jumping around the next hill which she pictured as a lily pad for her.

She remembers back in her kindergarten that they used to sing some sort of frog song. At first, she was humming it until she remembered the words, letting herself feel a bit of relief. " _Kero, Kero, Kwa—_ "

Atsuko suddenly hears a whistle. As the broom made another leap over a hill, she looks back and—

The Shooting Star bounded into her direction. She gasps and she focuses back to the track, willing the broom to go faster but it still made its rhythm of jumping over the hills leisurely. "Oh dear," she mutters and dreaded for Amanda's face to appear beside her with a smirk that told her that, yeah, she shouldn't have held her breath.

However, instead of just keeping up with a normal pace, she felt the Shooting Star pass her close. Dangerously close. Akko gasps again at the proximity and speed as the Shooting Star passed her. When she takes a look at the Shooting Star again, she saw that no one was sitting on it.

"Huh?" Atsuko mutters. Confounded at the lack of witches on the flying broom, she stares at it as her broom bounded to another hill while the Shooting Star shot off further into the forest before in abrupt and swift motion it turns and starts going to face… her direction. " _Huh!?"_

The broom bolted straight into her and Atsuko widened her eyes when it faced her on its sideways and all one meter of its red wood presented itself. Without stopping, the red broom collided with hers the moment her broom was on for a mid-jump. "AHH!"

Atsuko fell back and the wind got knocked out of her lungs when she lands on a hill harshly. Her back ached but she forced herself to stand up anyway, taking a deep breath as she did but when she looked up, she gasped.

Her broom leapt once more in a leisured pace to the next clump of dirt, but the Shooting Star shot itself to it. Like it was a fly, Shooting Star swatted Atsuko's broom down with its massive brush and the smaller broom landed on the dirt with a cloud of dust. However, it soon surprised the brunette when the second the broom crashed, it jumped again, bent and chipped in some areas.

However, her relief of seeing the broom at least a bit capable of its flight soon diminished when the Shooting Star started to _glow_.

The arrow-like point shrouded itself with an orangey-hue sort of aura, small and flickering but the sight of it made Atsuko speechless. Like the aura was a booster, it slugged itself forward with a faint pulse, even _faster_ than before and Shooting Star collided once more with Atsuko's broom. By the gravity and speed, the brooms crashed into an elevated wall of dirt, so hard that they basically crashed through it and the wall crumpled. An explosion of dust arose where the two brooms supposedly landed.

Atsuko threw an arm over eyes when the wind whipped around her, grunting as bits of clod from the crumpling dirt was pelted against her. When the dusts subsided, Atsuko peeks one eye open and saw that the dusts had still yet to settle down. She slowly stands up and carefully stepped down the hill.

Dust whirled and Atsuko sees the shadow of the Shooting Star emerging from the ground before speeding upwards again. Its take-off cleared away the dust and Atsuko saw her broom.

It was broken down to the letter. Its wood was shattered to splinters, the metal hilt was crushed to the ground, and the sticks of the brush were torn and reduced to toothpicks. The only thing left was the red sash, dirtied and torn.

Atsuko gaped at the sight as her mind processed what happened before it sunk into her.

The Shooting Star had just destroyed her broom.

Atsuko's gaze snapped up instantly and she finds the Shooting Star speeding about on the skies above her. She gasps a bit and starts to back away.

' _Don't tell me…_ ' she thinks, stepping away as the red broom slows and starts dipping down. Only then did Atsuko really realize how wrong it was for it to be flying without a witch. Suddenly, the broom stared down to her with neck-breaking haste.

Atsuko ditched her broken broom and started to run towards the direction of the forest. ' _Oh Jennifer, oh Jennifer, oh Jennifer—_ ' she thinks as panic rose in her chest. That broom is the real deal. That broom is the real deal!

That broom is actually _Shooting Star!_

Atsuko jumps over a small, three foot edge of dirt and almost trips from landing from it. As the brunette continues to bolt into safety, she rethinks on the previous days and how _stupid_ she was, a scolding thought which was beginning to become frequent in her head. She smacks her forehead repeatedly.

Why oh why was she so stupid!? Of course something had to be wrong with the Shooting Star since yesterday! It wandered off on its own. Rather, it was stolen. Perhaps that thing that brought it behind the labs corrupted it? Who knows but the broom can certainly _kill_ , after all it had just blown her broom to smithereens!

The best possible way to counter that murderous broom was to get out of its sights as quickly as possible, even if that's a slim chance considering how fast it is, and fighting back certainly wouldn't help. It could fly and it was probably as solid as a horse.

She looks back—

Shooting Star was hot on her and was gaining _awfully_ fast.

"Bloody hell!?" screamed Atsuko before she felt the point of the broom poke her from behind and she nearly trips again. However, the broom snagged the back of her uniform and in a swift yank, it lifted her off the ground and threw her into the air.

"AHH!" the brunette screams and she felt her phone flitting out of her pocket. She gasps and took a swipe at it before the Shooting Star collided into her arms. Her phone disappeared into the ground and the air was knocked out of her lungs again. A weird cracking sound like some glass had shattered, muffled by her robes. Her instinct was to latch onto its wood quickly for dear life.

The red broom shot upwards like bullet once more, taking off at such a speed that Atsuko yet again felt her stomach churn and start betraying her as she pulls herself closer to the broom in order to _not_ fall off. She noticed the broom's heat, though not enough to burn her grip on it. The wind whipped around her face and her hat was gone so she closes her eyes as the broom flied further away from the earth.

Then the broom abruptly shifted into a horizontal position and Atsuko squeaks and nearly let go of it before she fastened her legs around near the brush. Shooting Star sped off into the forest and when Atsuko, as she gathered courage, tries to open an eye, her sights were met by the ground being far, _far_ away. She widens her eyes and instantly, a sense of vertigo washed over her and she nearly faints.

However, the fear of falling off was greater, so with great difficulty to clutch over herself, she shifts on her position, buried her face in her hunched arms and holds for dear life onto the broom that became even faster each second, abruptly changing directions as it was gliding into the air and briskly dodging ruins, often even spinning in what may be an attempt to shake the brunette off and make her let go.

She doesn't, however, and instead she tightened her grip on the legendary broom. And if this thing doesn't stop first, she'll probably never let go.

Shooting Star, as if it had heard her thought, replied to her by spinning like a torque. Atsuko yelps and desperately clung into the broom as spun faster and entered the forest. The thick shadows and woven boughs above indicated that, and when Atsuko felt her left being gashed by a sharp branch, she holds the arrow-like point hard.

Atsuko hissed as the gash on her left thigh burned and craning her neck a bit, she peeks at it and saw blood oozing out through the wound. She gasped and yelps again as another branch snagged her right arm on her robes and tore right through it, piercing her skin painfully.

One trunk bumps into her side harshly. A shrub, ivy possibly, that Shooting Star passed attacks her skirt and scratches her skin like claws. When it wobbled a bit, Akko got hit on her left side by a thick tree and she felt the glass shards of the broken vial press into her skin.

The broom was barely just missing the woods and it was either that it forgot someone was sitting on it or it was hurting her purposely.

' _The latter, obviously,_ ' Atsuko thinks as she barely ducks past a thick branch that could easily lend her nose bleeding if she had smacked her face against it. Her wounds burned and stung. She starts glaring at the broom.

Slowly and _very_ carefully, she starts lift her head up from her arms, both of which now carrying fresh nicks and dirt. It was closer now, the edge of the forest, no doubt thanks to the outstanding speed of the legendary broom. Atsuko flinches a bit when Shooting Star barely dodged a massive trunk by a strand of a hair and she realized it was beginning to get slower. But the thought was dismissed when she catches a sight above her.

A branch, low enough to be at arm's reach and thick enough that it wouldn't break under her weight, and an obvious call for Atsuko to take it and risk the danger in hopes to finally be free of this ride. She was thinking of taking it before the broom had abruptly twisted directions again.

It made a u-turn when it reached a big tree with a thick trunk and began to glide across the forest again. "What!?" yelped Atsuko before Shooting Star dipped down low to the ground, barely half a feet and the leaves whisked around her as the speed of the Shooting Star winded them away from the ground, leaving a disturbed trail behind them.

Shooting Star was zigzagging across the forest in weird twists and neck-breaking turns. It went on for what may be kilometers, and Atsuko believed she was _way_ out of the track now. The forest around Luna Nova extended all the way outside the school so she wasn't at all sure where on earth she was.

However, when she sees the massive front castle, with all its grand columns and statues with high steps, Atsuko realized she was near the main Leyline entrance of the school, and it confirmed to her that yes, she was _very_ much outside of the track.

The brunette whimpered before the Shooting Star suddenly boosted again, gaining in speed and the main building became a blur of marble white, blue, and turquoise. She yelps at the sudden movement, her death-grip upon the broom returning. Twigs, leaves, and blades of grass attacked her face. Closing her eyes, Atsuko tucked her face into her arms again to hide it from the onslaught in front of her.

A mix of dead leaves, overgrown roots, and grass assaulted her front, and Shooting Star just dodged the bigger stones by the skin of its teeth. She grits her teeth when she felt her wounds stinging her and felt a small pebble getting pelted against her face. She can't let go, she can't let go, _she can't let go_ —

The trail they left smelled like freshly cut grass, very pungent and it was vile her nostrils. Was the Shooting Star that fast? Now that she thought about it, it was beginning to go very fa—

"AHHHH!" Atsuko screamed as her thoughts spoke too awfully soon when the Shooting Star bolted in a very wobbly way that made her stomach threaten to spit out her breakfast. A blur of blue petals caught her sight and the scent of them felt like a slap to the face. It was awful, like the disgusting scent of grass combined with something like cleaning solutions.

…

' _Wait—_ '

A smoke of pollen whiffed around Atsuko's face and she coughs as she accidently inhaled it by a handful. She sneezed, gagged, and spat the horrible stuff out of her mouth. But, as if it was rejuvenated, the Shooting Star instantly shot back up into the air, eliciting a scream from the brunette as it exited through the top of the trees, doubling her nausea which she was so close to letting out.

Branches caught up with her clothes, nearly tearing them to further shreds and her wounds screamed admonishingly in pain. Atsuko grits her teeth and in an attempt to calm herself, she took massive breaths and thought, ' _Just hold it in, Akko, just hold it in—'_

From the corner of her eye, the sight of the laboratory building came and just behind that, the massive compound of their dorms, and sandwiched between them, the massive circles of the courtyards. As the Shooting Star went higher, Atsuko could almost see the entirety of Luna Nova's castle and on the very far north, the small sightings of the old North Building. Old and faraway buildings were also stationed on the very far south.

When she saw the New Moon tower coming awfully close, she suddenly remembers something;

The relay race.

Atsuko felt something sting on her face and just now did she realize the horrible gash on her right cheek. Albeit small, she felt the blood leak from it and Atsuko could taste its metallic tang. Awful.

The vertigo came back and Akko felt her senses shutting down harshly and heavily, like she was holding it by a nylon string when just seconds ago she had all of her bearings. She felt her face sink of blood, her tongue tasting vile, and it didn't help when the Shooting Star started to spin like a torque again before it glided into the air smoothly.

Suddenly, it stopped on its track, pausing almost deliberately and Akko yelps as she was lurched forward by the sudden halt. She lost her grip and falls.

First, all she saw was the figure of the Shooting Star getting tinier among the blue skies and clouds, pausing before it sped off to who knows where again, leaving a wavy trial of _something_ behind it.

Akko tries to reach for it but her arms felt heavy and the wind whistled over her ears. She braced for the impact of the ground.

She closes her eyes for a moment but a call of her name makes her open them again. She thought that those wide, frightened blue eyes that stared after her were an after-thought.

* * *

Amanda had snagged the coil of rope from a nearby pile of tools that the fearies used in constructing the new platforms for the race. When she finally lost Professor Nelson through the forest, a hard feat considering how excellent that professor seemed to be with a broom, she sees the Shooting Star emerging from the forest, even _faster_ that before.

The American's face lit up and she takes one end of the rope on her shoulder and starts to tie a lasso, a skill she harnessed and done countless times back in her home town. However, when she was halfway through the knot, she glances back up, only then acknowledging the purple ball of robes hanging on the broom. Her heart jumped in her throat when she recognized that brown hair.

' _Oh my God, that's Akko—'_ Amanda thinks frantically and she finishes tying the rope into a reasonably sized lasso. She tries to fly overhead of the girl and gauged how far her lasso could reach the witch.

It was near impossible to catch up with the Shooting Star, she realized after following it for a few yards. The thing could easily cover miles all the while doing a show with a witch on it. After she studies Shooting Star's pace for a moment, a small glance at the humongous and nearby spruce caught her attention and Amanda decided to switch ideas.

The redhead made a swift turn-around and hid behind the thick, topmost parts of the spruce and waited for the Shooting Star to pass by her. The rope, from what Amanda could deduce, was probably eight meters long; not much, but if Amanda uses it right, she damn well has a chance to catch that broom.

She still has no idea what provoked that broom but if she wants answers, she _has_ to catch it. And besides, lassoing it wouldn't be much different in taming a wild horse back in Texas.

' _Yeah,'_ Amanda thinks, her grip on the stiff lasso in her hands tightening, peering to her side a bit and she sees the Shooting Star finally travelling to her direction, a wild chance that Amanda had to thank the gods for. ' _There's not much difference after all.'_

The waiting wasn't awfully long. In fact, it was awfully short; one moment, the Shooting Star was twenty yards away and now, barely a meter, and Amanda can see Atsuko better; she had a mean cut on her face that bled and her robes were so torn that Amanda saw more of her skin than clothe, most of which looking pretty red. Akko's knuckles were white, her eyes were closed, and her hair was a bird's nest.

Amanda pales at the sight. ' _Oh my God, she needs help—_ ' the redhead thinks, threw the lasso overhead of her and zeroed it onto the Shooting Star's arrow-like edge.

Her aim was impeccable. The moment the lasso looped around before the red hilt, Amanda pulls the rope back and the lasso tightened around it easily. She grins; _it worked! It actually worked!_

But her moment of triumph was cut short when she was nearly lurched forward as the Shooting Star continued off, surprising Amanda with how much force it had that she was worried that the rope might break. She takes her end with both ends, twisted on the broom, and with all of her might, pulls Shooting Star back.

The red broom was reeled backward for a bit, surprised at it such a task and it paused. However, Amanda hadn't realized that the abrupt force would make Akko fall over.

So when she hears her yelp, Amanda looks up and saw Akko falling sideways of the Shooting Star, her arms out extended but it was already out of her reach. The redhead widened her eyes and the rope was lost from her grip. Her hands found their way back to Jasminka's broom and she speeds down to catch the brunette, a sense of panicked dread filling in her.

"ATSUKO!"

Amanda had thought she shouted it but when she sees that blonde hair blur past her, the redhead slows down on her broom.

Diana flew by like a jet and in an instant had Akko's wrist in her hand. The bronze batons on their wrists accidently clinked together and Amanda saw how the heiress's broom was surprised of the sudden weight on it before its owner, though gritting and clearly struggling with her grip on the brunette, gently guided the broom downwards the forest floor.

Amanda relaxes and looks up. The Shooting Star had disappeared into the forest again. She has that distinct feeling it will come back although the front of her mind told her to assist the girls first.

The redhead turns back to where the duo had landed. When Atsuko was back on the ground, her legs buckled and Diana quickly dismounted from her broom to catch her. Amanda follows and left her broom afloat as Diana hurriedly carried Akko to a nearby tree.

Amanda came over as Diana whisks out her wand and she quickly summoned a white towel. Akko smelled terrible.

"Is she…" The redhead was about to start before Akko suddenly jumps, turns around, and pukes into the roots. Diana, surprisingly composed, gently ran a hand across the brunette's back while the other held her hair back as Akko vomited violently. Amanda had to step back.

"Atsuko," Diana suddenly says after Akko finished, a string of saliva and blood dripping on her chin and she takes her by the shoulders. "Turn around."

Akko, surprisingly, slowly obeys and turns around. She had a dazed look on her eyes, like she was trying to see who she was looking at. Amanda can now see the inch-long cut on her cheek, and her robes were little more than rags with more wounds underneath them. Her thighs held smaller cuts though they still looked painful to have. Amanda's immediate thought was, ' _What the hell did Shooting Star pull her into?'_

Diana's hands quickly went over to a red stain on the left side and she puts her hand in Akko's pocket before pulling out a glass shard.

"Wha—!" Amanda was about to ask before she briefly remembers the vial from before at New Tower. She quiets down as Diana studies it before tossing it away.

"She's injured bad," Diana says as she took the white clothe and tapped the wand with it. It became lightly damped and she gently tapped it against Akko's cheek, who squeaked and smacked her hand away. The heiress pauses for a bit, frowning but presses the damp cloth forward anyway. "Atsuko, can you please answer m— us? What happened up there?"

Amanda leaned forward when Akko paused but she just sighed, now relaxing against the damp cloth. "I… I think… it carried me off… somewhere at the entrance gates first…?" she puts her right hand against her forehead and groaned. "Ugh, my head…"

"Lemme fix that," Diana says and slowly wipes away her bangs. Akko's skin was deathly pale underneath the blood and dirt that was wiped away from her face. Diana gently taps the wand against Akko's forehead and murmured, " _Rappéirocapurao_."

The green light shone in the tip and very slowly dragged it down her face. Amanda saw the color returning to Akko's face. The cut on her face turned pink but very fragile. When the wand finished on the nose, Diana gently pulled back and the green light was gone.

"That's the best I can do right now," Diana says. "It's dangerous to do more in this state though it isn't serious enough that I _really_ have to. But this'll do."

Akko slowly blinks into life and her red eyes look up at them. She lifts a hand up and touches the cheek with the cut and felt around it. "… Er…" Akko muttered and looks down after feeling the scar. She whispers something.

"What was that?" Amanda asks.

"Uh… Thank you, Miss Cavendish…" Akko murmured and slowly stood up with a bit of Diana's help. Amanda noticed the way she winced and she saw the bruises and cuts on her legs were yet to be treated.

Diana looked surprise. "Oh, uh, it's nothing. No problem," she tries to smile at her but Akko refused to meet her eyes and she lets go of her arm. The heiress frowns at this and she readjusts her hat. "Though considering that you're covered in injuries and on a verge of a fever, you should withdraw."

At this, Akko looks up at her with an incredulous look. " _What_?"

Diana takes her broom that was came floated to her. "The rescue squad will take you in and deliver you to the ward. With your state, you can't enter the race."

The brunette's mouth a complete 'o'. "Okay, now who are you to say that!?" Akko shouts, suddenly angry. "An injury or two isn't an adequate enough reason to make me back out of the race, much less of it coming from you!"

Diana scowls at this. "'Injury'!? Akko, you just vomited!" She retorts and motions to her mess at the tree in which Akko's face reddened. "There are glass shards in your robes! You have cuts everywhere! You've only flown for what, five minutes, and you come back as this!"

Akko was about to snap something smart back at the heiress but Diana just shook her head, mounted on her broom, and says with finality, "Back out, Atsuko."

And she was gone.

Amanda saw Akko's face turned into an ugly red, her brows knitted together and hands clenched tightly into fists. As much as the redhead wants to side with the brunette, she knows Diana _was_ right about her state. So she gently places her hand on the other witch's shoulder. "She's… kind of right, you know," Amanda tells her slowly. "You can't enter until your wounds are treated."

Akko looks at her like she couldn't believe her, eyes wide in shock before she threw her hands up. "Amanda, are you kidding me?! Have you not noticed the bigger thing here? _That_ thing," Akko points at somewhere far. "Your _broom_ is the _actual_ and legit _Shooting Star_! And you think that detail is smaller than me entering this stupid race?"

"Akko—"

"I flew on that broom, Amanda! It was dangerous, but I actually _flied_ across the air!"

"And look at the state you are in!" Amanda yells at her and Akko steps back at the sudden anger present in her face. To be honest, it was just for show to make her step off but looking at it now, Amanda realizes the bigger picture but she maintained her façade anyway. "Look, we can search for Shooting Star later but we have to finish one thing first. That first thing for me is the race," Amanda mounts on Jasminka's broom. "And the first thing for _you_ is that you need to go to the clinic."

Amanda yelled, " _Tia Freyre!"_ and flew off, leaving Atsuko in her lonesome.

She wasn't too worried; Akko was a smart girl. She knows her way to find the clinic or maybe one of the roombas will probably find her and take her back. She knows Akko wasn't stupid enough to go look for Shooting Star.

* * *

Akko was going to look for the Shooting Star.

The brunette turns from the sight of the two witches flying away and she fumes as she ventured into the forest. Screw Amanda and _especially_ screw Diana. They just totally overlooked the bigger thing here!

Shooting Star in Luna Nova! Shooting Star! The legendary broom that was deemed to be missing since five years ago and right now it's racing in the school! She hadn't expected either of them, especially _Amanda_ , to be so nonchalant about it! What gives!?

Atsuko stops in her tracks and looks down at the area between her knees and the skirt. Dirtied and red, with the wounds weeping fresh blood. It hurts but right now, Shooting Star was much more important. She takes a hanging cloth of her left robe and slowly rips it away. Wrapping it around her palm, she reaches into her pocket and takes out the broken vial carefully and wrapped them safely before she dumps them behind a shrub underneath a spruce.

Her phone was gone but that was the least of her concerns. Akko sniffs a bit and realized the pungent smell of the potion from before and the blur of petals minutes ago was on her and she gags. She remembers the way the Shooting Star seemed to react to it.

Sucy said the potion was made with a blue flower called achlea… blue flower… blue flower…

There!

It was short and rooted near an oak's shady base. Atsuko plucks it out and cringes immediately as its pollen burst from its yellow stigma. Right… Right, stay away from the pollen. Knowing what made her feel like an idiot before Diana healed her, she holds it away at arm's length and covers her nose and mouth.

It stunk awfully. However, this was the kind of flower that Shooting Star reacts strongly to. So she buries her disgust and waved the flower around, albeit reluctantly and was careful on not facing the plant.

Shooting Star had approached the spot behind the laboratories where it found a batch of it. Knowing its color was too dim to be spotted underneath the shaded areas, it was safe to assume that its disgusting smell was what Shooting Star attracted it. But what was in it that attracted the red broom in the first place?

Atsuko hadn't thought of an answer before she hears a rustling and the Shooting Star shot past her, barely a meter away. It worked! Atsuko grins as the Shooting Star somersaulted into the air before turning to her direction.

She had then realized the gravity of the situation and she lets go of the flower when the red broom zoomed past her again. She saw a string of rope hanging near the arrow-like point of the broom and she takes the other end.

She was lurched forward as she grasps the rope and skidded her feet on the dirt, the force of the broom dragging her forward. However, the Shooting Star seemed to be generous to her as it only flew on a leisured pace, which was a complete surprise considering its literally neck-breaking speed from seconds before.

Realizing this, Atsuko quickly picks up her pace. Deeming she was near enough a moment later, she jumps and surprisingly, accomplished on sitting on the red broom. The heat was back against her hands and the rope she held was connected to the loop around the hilt. ' _I did it!'_ she thinks, grinning a bit but Shooting Star seemed to be done with its current speed and cranked it up.

Atsuko yelped as it boosted away with the same speed from before, and the nausea came back again. The vile taste of vomit in her tongue only encouraged it but she quickly told herself to get a grip. Straightening the rope in her palm, she placed one hand on the hilt of the red broom and quickly tied her hands around it, albeit with difficulty.

When she was looping the final knot to station her hands, she bit into the rope and pulled back to lock her grip on the Shooting Star secure. There! No more falling for her.

"Alright, so-called _legendary_ Shooting Star," Atsuko whispered to the broom with a manic grin. "Show me what you've really got!"

* * *

"I wonder if Akko's okay," Sucy muttered to Lotte, who shrugged back.

Once the leg flyers were finished in their tracks, the roombas quickly told them to fly back to the Luna Nova's oval. From Sucy's count, there were less than thirty leg flyers here with them and not yet a single anchor. And surprisingly, there was still one witch back up at the first platform who hadn't yet taken out their broom from her spell. It seemed they've already given up and backed out.

Sucy smirked a bit at how successful her potion was before the bird with a microphone for a beak, the journalists' familiar apparently, spoke from its green perch with Wangari's voice. "Now we're counting four, five, six anchor witches are on the final track! And on the top of them all is the 'Trustworthy and Talented Beauty' Diana Cavendish! Will she pull away in the end!?"

"Ugh," Lotte rolls her eyes. "Does that bitch really have to go that far on Diana?"

Sucy shrugs. "Considering Diana has twice as much fans as Amanda, it's no surprise to hear it coming from a journalist, especially from someone as biased as Wangari. But, Akko though…"

Lotte began to frown. "Do you think she gave up halfway? I mean, she's competitive, sure, but don't you think her cheating is a bit of a stretch?"

Sucy bit her lip, pondering on the blonde's statement. "She'll be fine… I hope."

"Pfft—"

The sound of snickering came from behind the duo of the red team looked behind them. Diana's goons were looking pretty smug, just like how they've always been. Sucy wouldn't have hesitated to throw an acne-producing potion right at their faces now hadn't it been for Professor Badcock standing guard around them.

"' _She'll be fine, she's competitive'_ ," lisped Hannah in a bad impression of Lotte before scoffing. "Please, red team, your faith in your so-called leader is wasting your nerves. Just stop thinking about it and just expect see her dead-last. That's what going to happen, anyway."

Oh, this bitch… "Awfully bold of you to say that when you were late on your own track," Sucy spat.

Hannah scowled and Barbara says, "Hey, at least our baton was given to a leader who could actually _fly_."

"You wanna go there again, Parker?" Lotte asked as she cracked her knuckles.

Barbara rolled her eyes and was about to retort something back before the journalist bird says, "Wait a minute—Someone's gaining on Avery fast—It's—It's—"

The witches around leaned forward to hear what made Wangari tongue-tied then gasped as she said, " _ATSUKO!?"_

""What!?"" Hannah and Barbara yelped together, aghast on the sudden pronouncement before the dark-haired fanatic took out her phone.

Lotte did the same and Sucy leaned in to see if the footage on the site had stated anything about that.

When the blonde finally got the live image on her screen, Sucy saw first was an aerial shot of Avery from violet team in the forest. Her short hair was flying around her face, gaze focused before she looks up, as if she heard a disturbance, and turned around. She yelps as sees something coming in and a blur of red flies past her so fast that Avery was nearly knocked out of her broom.

That arrow-like point, that beautiful cluster of feathers, and that mop of brunette hair with ragged robes—Indeed, Atsuko Kagari was on the race and flying on a broom and not just any broom, but the legendary _Shooting Star_.

"AKKO!" Lotte and Sucy's face lit up as they see their team leader gaining in Sola, who looked shell-shocked at seeing Atsuko before the brunette ultimately took over her, making her even more confused.

"Witches and fearies, another unexpected comeback from the first witch to leave the New Moon tower; Atsuko Kagari is on the track once more with a revenge on her tail! She's overtook the junior-choir star Avery Hail and Onion-head Sola Ale within seconds on her broom, which is—" Wangari gasps. "My word! Could it be!? _Shooting Star!"_

Witches gasped and had their eyes glued to the screen as a lucky roomba had caught a shot of Atsuko flying about, and when they could see her better, she was indeed sitting on a broom that looked admonishingly alike the Shooting Star, her hands tied to its arrow-like point with a rope, teeth clenched with her brown hair flying about behind her.

She quickly overtook Rina Selva, who blinked upon seeing her, and just yards ahead, she overtook Amelia Clearberg. Then she was out of the dense forest and on the final yard of ruins and hills, where the Shooting Star easily passed Chloe Rianno.

The witches behind Atsuko were left confounded at the sudden sweep as they could only stare at her with confused expressions, the trial of gust making the five witches grab their hats so they wouldn't fall off.

However, another witch started to gain to the Shooting Star, surprising everyone once more. Her redhair was unmistakable against the sunlight and those green eyes stood out.

"Another racer is in again! Bringing up third is Luna Nova's Futch Sweetheart, Amanda O'Neill!"

The sudden revelation of the race had suddenly made the viewers on edge, with their eyes glued to the screen, to the witches on the lead, to the Shooting Star, all of them staring towards the end, wondering who'll become victor.

* * *

"Akko!" Atsuko glanced down to see Amanda gaining awfully fast to her, her green eyes staring up at her with shock. " _What_ are you _doing?!"_

Atsuko looked back up at front and stared at Diana's back. She grits her teeth and says, "What does it look like!? I'm trying to win the race!"

"With _my_ broom!?" Amanda exclaims in disbelief.

"I told you before; this is the _actual_ Shooting Star! This broom belongs neither to you nor me nor at the Last Wednesday shop!" the brunette retorts before she flinched again as the Shooting Star once more gained speed. "After this, we need to get this to Headmaster Holbrooke!"

Amanda looked after the broom that seemed to lengthen the gap before she shakes her head. This was getting ridiculous. With a bit of concentration, she forced the broom to close the gap between it and the Shooting Star.

When they were on equal speeds again and Atsuko noticed her from the corner of her eye, Amanda says, "Give it up, Akko! Please! If that thing really is Shooting Star, then you'll get killed! How do you get off!?" She reaches out to get to touch the broom but Atsuko, with a bit of force, shifted to the left and the red broom tilted to side, away from the redhead.

Amanda scowls and tries to follow her before an alarming whistle stops her cold. The Shooting Star sped off and left her gaping before Amanda looks up and saw a red card at her face.

Behind the card, Professor Nelson appeared, red in the face with a strict scowl. She said, "Miss O'Neill, sidelining an order from a teacher, and then proceeded to try to outmaneuver her, while dismantling another anchor witch from her broom,"

' _Shit,'_ Amanda thought, noting she had just cursed. ' _She caught me with the rope?'_

Professor Nelson continued, "All of these violations against the rules results in disqualification!"

Amanda gasps and almost slips away from her broom. "What!? But—But that's not fair! A-Akko—I mean, Miss Kagari—"

"I'll deal with her later!" Professor Nelson told her sharply. "Right now, get off your broom!"

* * *

"Oh! Looks like the up-bringer Amanda is disqualified from the race!" Wangari said. Even from afar, Diana could hear the screams of disbelief from the students. "A red card delivered straight in the face for attempt in taking down Atsuko from Shooting Star!"

"She technically violated the rule for running away first, the attempt only tipped it," Professor Croix says, her face stone-cold as she stares at the screen where an image of a saddened O'Neill dismounted from her broom. "And while impressive for taming the Shooting Star, Miss Kagari also seems to be deserving of the red card as well."

From an image in the upper-right corner of her screen, she saw some students cussing about Atsuko. Wangari asks, "Oh? Why do you think that, Professor Croix?"

Croix started to sweat. Ohhhh dear, she just made Atsuko's situation worse, hadn't she? It was a good thing she hadn't made a live chat, otherwise it would've exploded. "Well, I believe that, uh, the Shooting Star was firstly entered by Miss O'Neill. So in a way, Miss Kagari had taken Miss O'Neill's broom, although accidental or deliberately, it's unknown."

* * *

' _No,'_ Diana thinks from her spot on the race, as she now exited the final track of the dense forest. ' _Atsuko didn't steal it. Shooting Star destroyed Atsuko's broom and she just got caught by it.'_

The heiress curses herself for not saving the Atsuko earlier when she saw the Shooting Star yank her away into the sky. She saw the entire thing and while she found the Shooting Star impressive when she first saw it barrel down on them back at the New Moon tower, the thought disappeared when she saw the thing take (though she thinks _kidnap_ would be the right word) Atsuko away.

She glances back and found Atsuko gaining awfully fast. She didn't look any worse from last time but Diana was still worried if she would fall again.

Cranking up her broom's speed, Diana makes the gap between her and the Shooting Star longer for about five yards. It would be impossible to go any slower without it overtaking it so she has to stay with this speed, however magic-consuming it is. She needs to finish the race before she takes care of the thing.

The picnickers around the track squealed in delight as the heiress was finally back on Luna Nova's oval track as she passed by the fountain, the finish line just in the other side.

Wangari noticed this. "The disqualification of Green team's own ace has put a monkey wrench in everybody's expectation! However, one thing's for certain; Diana Cavendish is still on the top! Will Atsuko surpass her!?"

From the corner of her eye, Diana saw a glimpse of that brunette hair just behind her and she focuses on the track. Shooting Star is _awfully_ fast. However, if Diana could just get over that limit…

The heiress focuses back on the track, the finish line now just a hundred yards away, a stretch she could easily blur to if she could _just_. What's holding her back? Holy shit, what's holding her back? Diana grits her teeth and concentrates on her broom, trying to will herself to go faster than this, knowing this could be the easiest win she could get from a race, but somehow, something's holding her back.

 _What was it?_

Suddenly, Atsuko was by her side now, teeth clenched, face adorably serious, her hair frizzed but still glinting against the sun, and Diana notices how her eyes were wide and shiny, framed by dark and long eyelashes, and the color of the Shooting Star bringing out her eye's color.

"—Are neck to neck! Who will surpass who!?" Diana could barely hear Wangari from above as the students screamed.

Diana then noticed the brunette was flying about three feet above, upside down, and was approximately a foot ahead of Diana. ' _Oh shit,'_ the heiress thought before the Shooting Star surprisingly gained speed again.

Fifty yards.

The blonde began to question this slowness of hers. She could easily surpass her, she could so _easily_ surpass Shooting Star and its speed. Oh, she raced much faster than this when she was back at the Cavendish estate just to throw eggs at her cousins' windows to their rooms. What's holding her back?

Finally, Akko was in front of her. The scream of the crowd was deafening. Her heart drummed as the cluster of feathers blocked her view. Diana just then realized how short Atsuko's skirt was, and it was even shorter now that it was torn away about an inch from it. Her mouth turned to sandpaper.

Slowly, very slowly, Diana lets Akko go on for another foot.

Thirty yards.

Wangari says something about Chloe finally arriving. Atsuko was flying higher and was upside-down again.

Twenty-five yards.

As Diana tries to ask herself what was going on and mentally berating herself on her slowness, she accidently glances up.

Twenty yards.

Pink.

 _Atsuko wore_ _ **pink**_ _._

Diana felt her blood skyrocket up to her face as she processed on what she just _saw_.

A fire started up in her stomach made her widen her eyes and she felt her grip tighten against the mahogany wood of her broom. She needs to get rid of this view, _fast_. Like a switch was turned on in her mind, she suddenly felt a surge of something came to her brain and all of the sudden the Shooting Star was behind her.

The student's screams deafened her eardrums. Confetti burst all around her. She hears a chant of her name but all Diana could think of was how that pink was now etched into her mind, now and maybe forever.

* * *

Akko gasped as Diana blur past her, at the speed she didn't know the heiress could reach.

Diana raced towards the finish line and the students screamed.

Akko sat up, gaping, before she suddenly feels the heat of the Shooting Star increasing. She flinched as she felt the heat becoming unbearable, and her legs were burning against the wood between them.

The brunette looks down, shocked on why the Shooting Star suddenly became hot before a flicker of orange hue started onto its arrow-like point again. She widened her eyes and thinks, ' _Oh no,'_ as she realized what was going to happen. She starts pulling away but her hands were locked tight by the ropes.

Panic yet again filled her chest and her heart raced in fear. She starts pulling harder and tried to take the knot that secured her hands away but suddenly, the Shooting Star rushed off, not as fast but some kind of force accented it. The heat became unbearable and she yelps.

Students screamed as the Shooting Star barreled past them. It didn't hit anyone but was very close to. Soon, the Shooting Star was off the track and was now heading to the forest once more.

Akko paled and pulled away from the ropes harsher. No, no, no, no _, no…_

She clenched her teeth as her fingers and knuckles burned, then she saw how the rope started to smother in smoke. Then the spot went up in flame.

Atsuko gasped as tried to pull and shake the knot, panic now fogging her mind as the flame started to hurt her. She whimpers and yelps as the flame flicked against her skin. She needs to get out of here, she needs to get off this broom. She sits up and places her right foot at the arrow-like point and starts to pull. She felt her wrist slowly pull out.

The Shooting Star was inside the forest once again. Akko cries out in pain as the red broom smacked against a tree and heard a sickening crack on her left side. A burning sensation was replaced from the impact.

She whimpers and starts pulling faster. The action only doubled the pain before finally, her right hand was released. Rope marks were stretched across her wrist and the back of her palm, red and stung from the flame of the rope. She clenched her teeth and starts pulling the other hand away.

A smudge of blue caught her eye and she looks up to see three, four, six, twelve, dozens and dozens of the blue flowers hurtling around her. Atsuko holds her breath and pulls harder, her entire body screaming in pain. The flame touched her left hand's fingers and she yelps, inhaling the scent of the flowers around her and she gags.

Suddenly, her mind nearly shut off, her bearings suddenly hazy, like a massive blanket just pulled over her and all she could see was blotches obscuring her vision. A tiny voice, though dull and dreary, screamed through the mist that spread across her mind to hold her breath and _pull_.

With a bit of force, she looks down and found her left hand nearly out, just the fingers that were left. The flame spread farther around, leaving the rope charred and hot.

' _Pull_ ,' Atsuko told herself and forced her limbs to move. Her left side was painful to stir and just keeping her eyes open was a chore. But she holds her breath and with one more pull, her hand was out and Atsuko's senses, for the last time, surged and exclaimed for her to get the hell off the broom.

She does and when she lets go, her eyes were met with an amazing sight.

The Shooting Star was out on an open field again, the blue sky and fluffy clouds blinding behind it. As she fell, her arms extended out looking charred, but all she could see was how the Shooting Star burned the rest of the rope on it into ashes, and the red wood shone against the sunlight, shiny and untapped by human hands.

The feathery brush ruffled before it elongated out to two, three, four feet, the feathers golden and smooth before two ends extended to the side. The two ends extended further and became longer than the broom itself, and Akko could see more golden feathers growing out underneath them, like they were a pair of wings.

Like it really was a bird, the wings flapped once, a powerful force that made Atsuko feel overwhelmed before the Shooting Star flew away.

It was like dream, where Akko was falling and the last thing she saw was the magic of the past.

Then she felt her left side yet again get hit another hard and rough surface and she yelps, shutting her eyes tight at the impact. Akko's forearm was burning and when she touched it with the other hand, felt a certain _bump_ in somewhere it shouldn't be.

She gasped again and slowly blinks awake before tasting something metallic. Her last relevant thought was that the cut on her cheek was open again. The horrid scent of the flowers was gone and she looks at her left arm.

It was turning purple and a _bump_ was there. Red dripped down her robes and she felt her face paling.

What the hell? What the hell? _What the hell?_

Somewhere, someone was shouting something Akko's name but her breathing became shallow. Her bearings were lost and she doesn't know what she sees anymore. Blotches filled vision again then darkness.

* * *

The race was finished nearly six hours ago. Curfew was on and fearies are working overtime to put off the entire platforms.

A lone roomba was walking across the ruins and hills that were made for the race. Tomorrow, one of the professors will dismantle the entire track and have it sealed off once more so it was better to hunt tonight before otherwise.

The roomba travelled for a few moments, searching for a certain item within the track before spotting it.

It beeped a small sound and trotted towards the broken smartphone before picking it up. It was banged up pretty bad. After all, a forty-foot fall wasn't something a fragile device like this from the human world can withstand.

But she knew her way around them. Fixing and modifying something like this would be a piece of cake, in fact, she could even alter its endurance with falls using magictronics. After all, Croix wasn't a pronounced inventor for nothing.

* * *

 **B's notes:**

 **Heyyy slow update but then again this is an entire 13k work so fucc my procrastinating ass**

 **Anyway, yall know whats up, and I know, I made this arc a bit darker than necessary but it's totally there for a reason**

 **This shit's been three chapters long and I think im going to compile chap7 and 8 together along with this and 10, once its complete in order for it be incessant rather than being cut off and the reasons for all the confusing shit are revealed. Trust me, I hate this arc's pace more than anyone, its slower than pkmn dppt ffs**

 **And don't start with all the grammar, its wrong and I know but im too lazy to edit them, unless I find them ugly enough**


End file.
